!IM(J    LUUliC 

eosophical 
ok  Concern 

icific  Building 
it&4thSts.,S.F. 


GIFT  or 


JJiXH 


_Laura„S^— HuntL 


3B4e 
L4^4- 


INVISIBLE  HELPERS 


C  W.  LEADBEATER 


AMERICAN  REVISED  EDITION 
WITH  INDEX 


CHICAGO: 
THE  THEOSOPHICAL  BOOK  CONCERN 

"Krotona,"  Hollywood, 
LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA 

LONDON! 

THE   THEOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY,  3  LANGHAM  PLACE 

BENARES:      THE  THEOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING   SOCIETY 

MADRAS,    THE  '  'THEOSOPHIST'  p  OFFICE,  ADYAR. 

1915 


M 


frt 


n 


efts'- 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER  L— The  Universal  Belief  in  Them...      5 

CHAPTER         II. — Some  Modern  Instances 9 

CHAPTER       III.— A  Personal  Experience  18 

CHAPTER        IV.— The  Helpers   25 

CHAPTER  V. — The    Reality    of    Superphysical 

Life 34 

CHAPTER        VI. — A  Timely  Intervention 39 

CHAPTER      VIL— The  "Angel"  Story 42 

CHAPTER     VIIL— The  Story  of  a  Fire 50 

CHAPTER  IX.— Materialization     and     Repercus- 
sion        56 

CHAPTER         X.— The  Two  Brothers  63 

CHAPTER        XL — Wrecks  and  Catastrophes 72 

CHAPTER      XIL— Work  Among  the  Dead 78 

CHAPTER  XIIL— Other  Branches  of  the  Work  ...    92 

CHAPTER  XIV.— The  Qualifications  Required....    97 

CHAPTER      XV.— The  Probationary  Path 108 

CHAPTER     XVL— The  Path  Proper 118 

CHAPTER   XVII.— What  Lies  Beyond  129 

INDEX 135 


INVISIBLE  HELPERS 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Universal  Belief  in  Them. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  characteristics  of 
Theosophy  that  it  gives  back  to  people  in  a  more 
rational  form  everything  which  was  really  useful 
and  helpful  to  them  in  the  religions  which  they 
have  outgrown.  Many  who  have  broken  through 
the  chrysalis  of  blind  faith,  and  mounted  on  the 
wings  of  reason  and  intuition  to  the  freer,  nobler 
mental  life  of  more  exalted  levels,  nevertheless  feel 
that  in  the  process  of  this  glorious  gain  a  some- 
thing has  been  lost — that  in  giving  up  the  beliefs 
of  their  childhood  they  have  also  cast  aside  much 
of  the  beauty  and  the  poetry  of  life. 

If,  however,  their  lives  in  the  past  have  been 
sufficiently  good  to  earn  for  them  the  opportunity 
of  coming  under  the*  benign  influence  of  Theo- 
sophy, they  very  soon  discover  that  even  in  this 
particular  there  has  been  no  loss  at  all,  but  an  ex- 

5 


ceeding  great  gain — that  the  glory  and  the  beauty 
and  the  poetry  are  there  in  fuller  measure  than 
they  had  ever  hoped  before,  and  no  longer  as  a 
mere  pleasant  dream  from  which  the  cold  light  of 
common-sense  may  at  any  time  rudely  awaken  them, 
but  as  truths  of  nature  which  will  bear  investigation 
— which  become  only  brighter,  fuller  and  more  per- 
fect as  they  are  more  accurately  understood. 

A  marked  instance  of  this  beneficent  action  of 
Theosophy  is  the  way  in  which  the  invisible  world 
(which,  before  the  great  wave  of  materialism  en- 
gulfed us,  used  to  be  regarded  as  the  source  of  all 
living  help)  has  been  restored  by  it  to  modern  life. 
All  the  charming  folk-lore  of  the  elf,  the  brownie 
and  the  gnome,  of  the  spirits  of  air  and  water,  of  the 
forest,  the  mountain  and  the  mine,  is  shown  by  it  to 
be  no  more  meaningless  superstition,  but  to  have  a 
basis  of  actual  and  scientific  fact  behind  it.  Its  answer 
to  the  great  fundamental  question  "If  a  man  die, 
shall  he  live  again  ?"  is  equally  definite  and  scien- 
tific, and  its  teaching  on  the  nature  and  conditions 
of  the  life  after  death  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon 
much  that,  for  the  Western  world  at  least,  was  pre- 
viously wrapped  in  impenetrable  darkness. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  in  this  teach- 
ing as  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  life 
after  death,  Theosophy  stands  in  a  position  totally 


7 

different  from  that  of  ordinary  religion.  It  does 
not  put  forward  these  great  truths  merely  on  the 
authority  of  some  sacred  book  of  long  ago ;  in  speak- 
ing of  these  subjects  it  is  not  dealing  with  pious 
opinions,  or  metaphysical  speculations,  but  with 
solid,  definite  facts,  as  real  and  as  close  to  us  as  the 
air  we  breathe  or  the  houses  we  live  in — facts  of 
which  many  among  us  have  constant  experience — 
facts  among  which  lies  the  daily  work  of  some  of  our 
students,  as  will  presently  be  seen. 

Among  the  beautiful  conceptions  which  Theo- 
sophy  has  restored  to  us  stands  pre-eminent  that  of 
the  great  helpful  agencies  of  nature.  The  belief  in 
these  has  been  world-wide  from  the  earliest  dawn  of 
history,  and  is  universal  even  now  outside  the  nar- 
row domains  of  protestantism,  which  has  emptied 
and  darkened  the  world  for  its  votaries  by  its  at- 
tempt to  do  away  with  the  natural  and  perfectly  true 
idea  of  intermediate  agents,  and  reduce  everything 
to  the  two  factors  of  man  and  deity — a  device  where- 
by the  conception  of  deity  has  been  infinitely  do- 
graded,  and  man  has  remained  unhelped. 

A  moment's  thought  will  show  that  the  ordinary 
view  of  providence — the  conception  of  an  erratic 
interference  by  the  central  power  of  the  universe 
with  the  result  of  his  own  decrees — would  imply  the 
introduction  of  partiality  into  the  scheme,  and  there- 


8 

fore  of  the  whole  train  of  evils  which  must  neces- 
sarily follow  upon  its  heels.  The  Theosophical 
teaching,  that  a  man  can  be  thus  specially  helped  only 
when  his  past  actions  have  been  such  as  to  deserve 
this  assistance,  and  that  even  then  the  help  will  be 
given  through  those  who  are  comparatively  near  his 
own  level,  is  free  from  this  serious  objection;  and  it 
furthermore  brings  back  to  us  the  older  and  far 
grander  conception  of  an  unbroken  ladder  of  living 
beings  extending  down  from  the  Logos  Himself  to 
the  very  dust  beneath  our  feet. 

In  the  East  the  existence  of  the  invisible  helpers 
has  always  been  recognized,  though  the  names  given 
and  the  characteristics  attributed  to  them  naturally 
vary  in  different  countries;  and  even  in  Europe 
we  have  had  the  old  Greek  stories  of  the  constant  in- 
terference of  the  gods  in  human  affairs,  and  the 
Roman  legend  that  Castor  and  Pollux  led  the  legions 
of  the  infant  republic  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus. 
Nor  did  such  a  conception  die  out  when  the  classical 
period  ended,  for  these  stories  have  their  legitimate 
successors  in  mediaeval  tales  of  saints  who  appeared 
at  critical  moments  and  turned  the  fortune  of  war  in 
favour  of  the  Christian  hosts,  or  of  guardian  angels 
who  sometimes  stepped  in  and  saved  a  pious  traveller 
from  what  would  otherwise  have  been  certain  de- 
struction. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Some  Modern  Instances. 

Even  in  this  incredulous  age,  and  amidst  the  full 
whirl  of  our  nineteenth-century  civilization,  in  spite 
of  the  dogmatism  of  our  science  and  the  deadly  dull- 
ness of  our^  protestantism,  instances  of  intervention 
inexplicable  from  the  materialistic  standpoint  may 
still  be  found  by  anyone  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
look  for  them ;  and  in  order  to  demonstrate  this  to 
the  reader  I  will  briefly  epitomize  a  few  of  the  ex- 
amples given  in  one  or  other  of  the  recent  collections 
of  such  stories,  adding  thereto  one  or  two  that  have 
come  within  my  own  notice. 

One  very  remarkable  feature  of  these  more  recent 
examples  is  that  the  intervention  seems  nearly  always 
to  have  been  directed  towards  the  helping  or  saving 
of  children. 

An  interesting  case  which  occurred  in  London 
only  a  few  years  ago  was  connected  with  the  pre- 
servation of  a  child's  life  in  the  midst  of  a  terrible 
fire,  which  broke  out  in  a  street  near  Holborn,  and 
entirely  destroyed  two  of  the  houses  there.  The 
flames  had  obtained  such  hold  before  they  were  dis- 


IO 

covered  that  the  firemen  were  unable  to  save  the 
houses,  but  they  succeeded  in  rescuing  all  the  in- 
mates except  two — an  old  woman  who  was  suffo- 
cated by  the  smoke  before  they  could  reach  her,  and 
a  child  about  five  years  old,  whose  presence  in  the 
house  had  been  forgotton  in  the  hurry  and  excite- 
ment of  the  moment. 

The  mother  of  the  child,  it  seems,  was  a  friend 
or  relative  of  the  landlady  of  the  house,  and  had  left 
the  little  creature  in  her  charge  for  the  night,  because 
she  was  herself  obliged  to  go  down  to  Colchester 
on  business.  It  was  not  until  everyone  else  had  been 
rescued,  and  the  whole  house  was  wrapped  in  flame, 
that  the  landlady  remembered  with  a  terrible  pang 
the  trust  that  had  been  confided  to  her.  It  seemed 
hopeless  then  to  attempt  to  get  at  the  garret  where 
the  child  had  been  put  to  bed,  but  one  of  the  firemen 
heroically  resolved  to  make  the  desperate  effort,  and, 
after  receiving  minute  directions  as  to  the  exact 
situation  of  the  room,  plunged  in  among  the  smoke 
and  flame. 

He  found  the  child,  and  brought  him  forth  entirely 
unharmed;  but  when  he  rejoined  his  comrades  he 
had  a  very  singular  story  to  tell.  He  declared  that 
when  he  reached  the  room  he  found  it  in  flames,  and 
most  of  the  floor  already  fallen;  but  the  fire  had 
curved  round  the  room  towards  the  window  in  an 


II 

unnatural  and  unaccountable  manner,  the  like  of 
which  in  all  his  experience  he  had  never  seen  before, 
so  that  the  corner  in  which  the  child  lay  was  wholly 
untouched,  although  the  very  rafters  of  the  frag- 
ment of  floor  on  which  his  little  crib  stood  were  half 
burnt  away.  The  child  was  naturally  very  much 
terrified,  but  the  fireman  distinctly  and  repeatedly 
declared  that  as  at  great  risk  he  made  his  way  to- 
wards him  he  saw  a  form  like  an  angel — here  his 
exact  words  are  given — a  something  "all  gloriously 
white  and  silvery,  bending  over  the  bed  and  smooth- 
ing down  the  counterpane.' '  He  could  not  possibly 
have  been  mistaken  about  it,  he  said,  for  it  was  visible 
in  a  glare  of  light  for  some  moments,  and  in  fact  dis- 
appeared only  when  he  was  within  a  few  feet  of  it. 

Another  curious  feature  of  this  story  is  that  the 
child's  mother  found  herself  unable  to  sleep  that 
night  down  at  Colchester,  but  was  constantly  har- 
rassed  by  a  strong  feeling  that  something  was  wrong 
with  her  child,  insomuch  that  at  last  she  was  com- 
pelled to  rise  and  spend  some  time  in  earnest  prayer 
that  the  little  one  might  be  protected  from  the  danger 
which  she  instinctively  felt  to  be  hanging  over  him. 
The  intervention  was  thus  evidently  what  a  Christian 
would  call  an  answer  to  prayer ;  a  Theosophist,  put- 
ting the  same  idea  in  more  scientific  phraseology, 
would  say  that  her  intense  outpouring  of  love  consti- 


12 

tuted  a  force  which  one  of  our  invisible  helpers  was 
able  to  use  for  the  rescue  of  her  child  from  a  terrible 
death. 

A  remarkable  case  in  which  children  were  ab- 
normally protected  occurred  on  the  banks  of  the 
Thames  near  Maidenhead  a  few  years  earlier  than 
our  last  example.  This  time  the  danger  from  which 
they  were  saved  arose  not  from  fire  but  from  water. 
Three  little  ones,  who  lived,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  in 
or  near  the  village  of  Shottesbrook,  were  taken  out 
for  a  walk  along  the  towing-path  by  their  nurse. 
They  rushed  suddenly  round  a  corner  upon  a  horse 
which  was  drawing  a  barge,  and  in  the  confusion  two 
of  them  got  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  tow-rope  and 
were  thrown  into  the  water. 

The  boatman,  who  saw  the  accident,  sprang  for- 
ward to  try  to  save  them,  and  he  noticed  that  they 
were  floating  high  in  the  water  "in  quite  an  un- 
natural way,  like/'  as  he  said,  and  moving  quietly 
towards  the  bank.  This  was  all  that  he  and  the  nurse 
saw,  but  the  children  each  declared  that  "a  beautiful 
person,  all  white  and  shining,"  stood  beside  them  in 
the  water,  held  them  up  and  guided  them  to  the 
shore.  Nor  was  their  story  without  corroboration, 
for  the  bargeman's  little  daughter,  who  ran  up  from 
the  cabin  when  she  heard  the  screams  of  the  nurse, 


13 

also  affirmed  that  she  saw  a  lovely  lady  in  the  water 
dragging  the  two  children  to  the  bank. 

Without  fuller  particulars  than  the  story  gives  us, 
it  is  impossible  to  say  with  certainty  from  what  class 
of  helpers  this  "angel"  was  drawn;  but  the  prob- 
abilities are  in  favour  of  its  having  been  a  developed 
human  being  functioning  in  the  astral  body,  as  will 
be  seen  when  later  on  we  deal  with  this  subject  from 
the  other  side,  as  it  were — from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  helpers  rather  than  the  helped. 

A  case  in  which  the  agency  is  somewhat  more  de- 
finitely distinguishable  is  related  by  the  well-known 
clergyman,  Dr.  John  Mason  Neale.  He  states  that 
a  man  who  had  recently  lost  his  wife  was  on  a  visit 
with  his  little  children  at  the  country  house  of  a 
friend.  It  was  an  old,  rambling  mansion,  and  in 
the  lower  part  of  it  there  were  long,  dark  passages, 
in  which  the  children  played  about  with  great  de- 
light. But  presently  they  came  upstairs  very  grave- 
ly, and  two  of  them  related  that  as  they  were  run- 
ning down  one  of  these  passages  they  were  met  by 
their  mother,  who  told  them  to  go  back  again,  and 
then  disappeared.  Investigation  revealed  the  fact 
that  if  the  children  had  run  but  a  few  steps  farther 
they  would  have  fallen  down  a  deep  uncovered  well 
which  yawned  full  in  their  path,  so  that  the  appari- 


14 

tion  of  their  mother  had  saved  them  from  almost 
certain  death. 

In  this  instance  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  mother  herself  was  still  keeping  a  loving 
watch  over  her  children  from  the  astral  plane,  and 
that  (as  has  happened  in  some  other  cases)  her  in- 
tense desire  to  warn  them  of  the  danger  into  which 
they  were  so  heedlessly  rushing  gave  her  the  power  to 
make  herself  visible  and  audible  to  them  for  the  mo- 
ment— or  perhaps  merely  to  impress  their  minds 
with  the  idea  that  they  saw  and  heard  her.  It  is 
possible,  of  course,  that  the  helper  may  have  been 
someone  else,  who  took  the  familiar  form  of  the 
mother  in  order  not  to  alarm  the  children;  but  the 
simplest  hypothesis  is  to  attribute  the  intervention 
to  the  action  of  the  ever-wakeful  mother-love  itself, 
undimmed  by  the  passage  through  the  gates  of  death. 

This  mother-love,  being  one  of  the  holiest  and 
most  unselfish  of  human  feelings,  is  also  one  of  the 
most  persistent  on  higher  planes.  Not  only  does  the 
mother  who  finds  herself  upon  the  lower  levels  of  the 
astral  plane,  and  consequently  still  within  touch  of 
the  earth,  maintain  her  interest  in  and  her  care  for 
her  children  as  long  as  she  is  able  to  see  them ;  even 
after  her  entry  into  the  heaven- world  these  little  ones 
are  still  the  most  prominent  objects  in  her  thought, 
and  the  wealth  of  love  that  she  lavishes  upon  the 


*5 

images  which  she  there  makes  of  them  is  a  great  out- 
pouring of  spiritual  force  which  flows  down  upon 
her  offspring  who  are  still  struggling  in  this  lower 
world,  and  surrounds  them  with  living  centres  of 
beneficent  energy  which  may  not  inaptly  be  described 
as  veritable  guardian  angels.  An  illustration  of  this 
will  be  found  in  the  sixth  of  our  Theosophical  man- 
uals, p.  38. 

Not  long  ago  the  little  daughter  of  one  of  our 
English  bishops  was  out  walking  with  her  mother 
in  the  town  where  they  lived,  and  in  running  heed- 
lessly across  a  street  the  child  was  knocked  down 
by  the  horses  of  a  carriage  which  came  quickly  upon 
her  round  a  corner.  Seeing  her  among  the  horses' 
feet,  the  mother  rushed  forward,  expecting  to  find 
her  very  badly  injured,  but  she  sprang  up  quite  mer- 
rily, saying,  "Oh,  mamma,  I  am  not  at  all  hurt,  for 
something  all  in  white  kept  the  horses  from  treading 
upon  me,  and  told  me  not  to  be  afraid." 

A  case  which  occurred  in  Buckinghamshire,  some- 
where in  the  neighbourhood  of  Burnham  Beeches,  is 
remarkable  on  account  of  the  length  of  time  through 
which  the  physical  manifestation  of  the  succouring 
agency  seems  to  have  maintained  itself.  It  will  have 
been  seen  that  in  the  instances  hitherto  given  the  in- 
tervention was  a  matter  of  but  a  few  moments, 


i6 

whereas  in  this  a  phenomenon  was  produced  which 
appears  to  have  persisted  for  more  than  half  an  hour. 

Two  of  the  little  children  of  a  small  farmer  were 
left  to  amuse  themselves  while  their  parents  and  their 
entire  household  were  engaged  in  the  work  of  har- 
vesting. The  little  ones  started  for  a  walk  in  the 
woods,  wandered  far  from  home,  and  then  managed 
to  lose  their  way.  When  the  weary  parents  returned 
at  dusk  it  was  discovered  that  the  children  were 
missing,  and  after  enquiring  at  some  of  the  neigh- 
bours' houses  the  father  sent  servants  and  labourers 
in  various  directions  to  seek  for  them. 

Their  efforts  were,  however,  unsuccessful,  and 
their  shouts  unanswered ;  and  they  had  reassembled 
at  the  farm  in  a  somewhat  despondent  frame  of  rnind, 
when  they  all  saw  a  curious  light  some  distance 
away  moving  slowly  across  some  fields  towards  the 
road.  It  was  described  as  a  large  globular  mass  of 
rich  golden  glow,  quite  unlike  ordinary  lamplight; 
and  as  it  drew  nearer  it  was  seen  that  the  two  missing 
children  were  walking  steadily  along  in  the  midst  of 
it.  The  father  and  some  others  immediately  set  off 
running  towards  it;  the  appearance  persisted  until 
they  were  close  to  it,  but  just  as  they  grasped  the  chil- 
dren it  vanished,  leaving  them  in  the  darkness. 

The  children's  story  was  that  after  night  came  on 
they  had  wandered  about  crying  in  the  woods  for 


17 

some  time,  and  had  at  last  lain  down  under  a  tree  to 
sleep.  They  had  been  roused,  they  said,  by  a  beauti- 
ful lady  with  a  lamp,  who  took  them  by  the  hand  and 
led  them  home ;  when  they  questioned  her  she  smiled 
at  them,  but  never  spoke  a  word.  To  this  strange 
tale  they  both  steadily  adhered,  nor  was  it  possible 
in  any  way  to  shake  their  faith  in  what  they  had 
seen.  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that  though  all 
present  saw  the  light,  and  noticed  that  it  lit  up  the 
trees  and  hedges  which  came  within  its  sphere  pre- 
cisely as  an  ordinary  light  would,  yet  the  form  of  the 
lady  was  visible  to  none  but  the  children. 


CHAPTER  III. 
A  Personal  Experience. 

All  the  above  stories  are  comparatively  well- 
known,  and  may  be  found  in  some  of  the  books 
which  contain  collections  of  such  accounts — most 
of  them  in  Dr.  Lee's  More  Glimpses  of  the  World 
Unseen;  but  the  two  instances  which  I  am  now  about 
to  give  have  never  been  in  print  before,  and  both  oc- 
curred within  the  last  ten  years — one  to  myself,  and 
the  other  to  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Theosophical  Society,  whose  ac- 
curacy of  observation  is  beyond  all  shadow  of  doubt. 

My  own  story  is  a  simple  one  enough,  though  not 
unimportant  to  me,  since  the  interposition  undoubted- 
ly saved  my  life.  I  was  walking  one  exceedingly  wet 
and  stormy  night  down  a  quiet  back  street  near 
Westbourne  Grove,  struggling  with  scant  success 
to  hold  up  an  umbrella  against  the  savage  gusts  of 
wind  that  threatened  every  moment  to  tear  it  from 
my  grasp,  and  trying  as  I  laboured  along  to  think 
out  the  details  of  some  work  upon  which  I  was  just 
then  engaged. 

18 


*9 

With  startling  suddenness  a  voice  which  I  know 
well — the  voice  of  an  Indian  teacher — cried  in  my 
ear  "Spring  back!"  and  in  mechanical  obedience  I 
started  violently  backwards  almost  before  I  had 
time  to  think.  As  I  did  so  my  umbrella,  which  had 
swung  forward  with  the  sudden  movement,  was 
struck  from  my  hand,  and  a  huge  metal  chimney- 
pot crashed  upon  the  pavement  less  than  a  yard  in 
front  of  my  face.  The  great  weight  of  this  article, 
and  the  tremendous  force  with  which  it  fell,  make 
it  absolutely  certain  that  but  for  the  warning  voice 
I  should  have  been  killed  on  the  spot ;  yet  the  street 
was  empty,  and  the  voice  was  that  of  one  whom  I 
knew  to  be  seven  thousand  miles  away  from  me,  as 
far  as  the  physical  body  was  concerned. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  occasion  upon  which  I  re- 
ceived assistance  of  this  supernormal  kind,  for  in 
early  life,  long  before  the  foundation  of  the  Theo- 
sophical  Society,  the  apparition  of  a  dear  one  who 
had  recently  died  prevented  me  from  committing 
what  I  now  see  would  have  been  a  serious  crime, 
although  by  the  light  of  such  knowledge  as  I  then 
had  it  appeared  not  only  a  justifiable  but  even  a  laud- 
able act  of  retaliation.  Again,  at  a  later  date, 
though  still  before  the  foundation  of  this  Society,  a 
warning  conveyed  to  me  from  a  higher  plane  amid 
most  impressive  surroundings  enabled  me  to  prevent 


20 

another  man  from  entering  upon  a  course  which  I 
now  know  would  have  ended  disastrously,  though  I 
had  no  reason  to  suppose  so  at  the  time.  So  it  will 
be  seen  that  I  have  a  certain  amount  of  personal  ex- 
perience to  strengthen  my  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  in- 
visible helpers,  even  apart  from  my  knowledge  of  the 
help  that  is  constantly  being  given  at  the  present 
time. 

The  other  case  is  a  very  much  more  striking  one. 
One  of  our  members,  who  gives  me  permission  to 
publish  her  story,  but  does  not  wish  her  name  men- 
tioned, once  found  herself  in  very  serious  physical 
peril.  Owing  to  circumstances  which  need  not  be  de- 
tailed here,  she  was  in  the  very  centre  of  a  dangerous 
street  fracas,  and  seeing  several  men  struck  down 
and  evidently  badly  hurt  close  to  her,  was  in  mo- 
mentary expectation  of  a  similar  fate,  since  escape 
from  the  crush  seemed  quite  impossible. 

Suddenly  she  experienced  a  curious  sensation  of 
being  whirled  out  of  the  crowd,  and  found  herself 
standing  quite  uninjured  and  entirely  alone  in  a 
small  bye-street  parallel  with  the  one  in  which  the 
disturbance  had  taken  place.  She  still  heard  the 
noise  of  the  struggle,  and  while  she  stood  wonder- 
ing what  on  earth  had  happened  to  her,  two  or  three 
men  who  had  escaped  from  the  crowd  came  run- 
ning round  the  corner  of  the  street,  and  on  seeing 


21 

her  expressed  great  astonishment  and  pleasure,  say- 
ing that  when  the  brave  lady  so  suddenly  disappeared 
from  the  midst  of  the  fight  they  had  felt  certain  that 
she  had  been  struck  down. 

At  the  time  no  sort  of  explanation  was  forthcom- 
ing, and  she  returned  home  in  a  very  mystified  con- 
dition; but  when  at  a  later  period  she  mentioned 
this  strange  occurrence  to  Madame  Blavatsky  she 
was  informed  that,  her  karma  being  such  as  to  en- 
able her  to  be  saved  from  her  exceedingly  dangerous 
position,  one  of  the  Masters  had  specially  sent  some 
one  to  protect  her  in  view  of  the  fact  that  her  life  was 
needed  for  the  work. 

Nevertheless  the  case  remains  a  very  extraordi- 
nary one,  both  with  regard  to  the  great  amount  of 
power  exercised  and  the  unusually  public  nature  of 
its  manifestation.  It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the 
modus  operandi;  she  must  have  been  lifted  bodily 
over  the  intervening  block  of  houses,  and  simply  set 
down  in  the  next  street ;  but  since  her  physical  body 
was  not  visible  floating  in  the  air,  it  is  also  evident 
that  a  veil  of  some  sort  (probably  of  etheric  matter) 
must  have  been  thrown  round  her  while  in  transit. 

If  it  be  objected  that  whatever  can  hide  physical 
matter  must  itself  be  physical,  and  therefore  visible, 
it  may  be  replied  that  by  a  process  familiar  to  all 
occult  students  it  is  possible  to  bend  rays  of  light 


22 

(which,  under  all  conditions  at  present  known  to 
science,  travel  only  in  straight  lines  unless  refracted) 
so  that  after  passing  round  an  object  they  may  re- 
sume exactly  their  former  course;  and  it  will  at 
once  be  seen  that  if  this  were  done  such  an  object 
would  to  all  physical  eyes  be  absolutely  invisible 
until  the  rays  were  allowed  to  resume  their  normal 
course.  I  am  fully  aware  that  this  one  statement 
alone  is  sufficient  to  brand  my  remarks  as  nonsense 
in  the  eyes  of  the  scientist  of  the  present  day,  but  I 
cannot  help  that;  I  am  merely  stating  a  possibility 
in  nature  which  the  science  of  the  future  will  no 
doubt  one  day  discover,  and  for  those  who  are  not 
students  of  occultism  the  remark  must  wait  until  then 
for  its  justification. 

The  process,  as  I  say,  is  comprehensible  enough  to 
anyone  who  understands  a  little  about  the  more  oc- 
cult forces  of  nature;  but  the  phenomenon  still  re- 
mains an  exceedingly  dramatic  one,  while  the  name 
of  the  heroine  of  the  story,  were  I  permitted  to  give 
it,  would  be  a  guarantee  of  its  accuracy  to  all  my 
readers. 

Another  recent  instance  of  interposition,  less  strik- 
ing, perhaps,  but  entirely  successful,  has  been  re- 
ported to  me  since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition 
of  this  book.  A  lady,  being  obliged  to  undertake  a 
long  railway  journey  alone,  had  taken  the  precaution 


*3 

to  secure  an  empty  compartment;  but  just  as  the 
train  was  leaving  the  station,  a  man  of  forbidding 
and  villainous  appearance  sprang  in  and  seated  him- 
self at  the  other  end  of  the  carriage.  The  lady  was 
much  alarmed,  thus  to  be  left  alone  with  so  doubtful- 
looking  a  character,  but  it  was  too  late  to  call  for 
help,  so  she  sat  still  and  commended  herself  earnestly 
to  the  care  of  her  patron  saint. 

Soon  her  fears  were  redoubled,  for  the  man  arose 
and  turned  toward  her  with  an  evil  grin,  but  he  had 
hardly  taken  one  step  when  he  started  back  with  a 
look  of  the  most  intense  astonishment  and  terror. 
Following  the  direction  of  his  glance,  she  was  start- 
led to  see  a  gentleman  seated  directly  opposite  to  her, 
gazing  quietly  but  firmly  at  the  baffled  robber — a 
gentleman  who  certainly  could  not  have  entered  the 
carriage  by  any  ordinary  means.  Too  much  awed 
to  speak,  she  watched  him  as  though  fascinated  for 
a  full  half-hour;  he  uttered  no  word,  and  did  not 
even  look  at  her,  but  kept  his  eyes  steadily  upon  the 
villain,  who  cowered  trembling  in  the  furthest  cor- 
ner of  the  compartment.  The  moment  that  the  train 
reached  the  next  station,  and  even  before  it  came  to 
a  standstill,  the  would-be  thief  tore  open  the  door 
and  sprang  hurriedly  out.  The  lady,  deeply  thank- 
ful to  be  rid  of  him,  turned  to  express  her  gratitude 
to  the  gentleman,  but  found  only  an  empty  seat, 


24 

though  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  any  physi- 
cal body  to  have  left  the  carriage  in  the  time. 

The  materialization  was  in  this  case  maintained 
for  a  longer  period  than  usual,  but  on  the  other  hand 
it  expended  no  force  in  action  of  any  kind — nor  in- 
deed was  it  necessary  that  it  should  do  so,  as  its 
mere  appearance  was  sufficient  to  effect  its  purpose. 

But  these  stories,  all  referring  as  they  do  to  what 
would  commonly  be  called  angelic  intervention, 
illustrate  only  one  small  part  of  the  activities  of  our 
invisible  helpers.  Before,  however,  we  can  profitably 
consider  the  other  departments  of  their  work  it  will 
be  well  that  we  should  have  clearly  in  our  minds  the 
various  classes  of  entities  to  which  it  is  possible  that 
these  helpers  may  belong.  Let  that,  then,  be  the 
portion  of  our  subject  to  be  next  treated. 


a 


CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Helpers. 

Help,  then,  may  be  given  by  several  of  the  many 
classes  of  inhabitants  of  the  astral  plane.  It  may 
come  from  devas,  from  nature-spirits,  or  from  those 
whom  we  call  dead,  as  well  as  from  those  who  func- 
tion consciously  upon  the  astral  plane  during  life — 
chiefly  the  adepts  and  their  pupils.  But  if  we  ex- 
amine the  matter  a  little  more  closely  we  shall  see 
that  though  all  the  classes  mentioned  may,  and  some* 
times  do,  take  a  part  in  this  work,  yet  their  shares  in 
it  are  so  unequal  that  it  is  practically  left  almost  en- 
tirely to  one  class. 

The  very  fact  that  so  much  of  this  work  of  help- 
ing has  to  be  done  either  upon  or  from  the  astral 
plane  goes  far  in  itself  towards  explaining  this.  To 
anyone  who  has  even  a  faint  idea  of  what  the  powers 
at  the  command  of  an  adept  really  are,  it  will  be  at 
once  obvious  that  for  him  to  work  upon  the  astral 
plane  would  be  a  far  greater  waste  of  energy  than 
for  our  leading  physicians  or  scientists  to  spend  thf  tr 
time  in  breaking  stones  upon  the  road. 

25 


26 

The  work  of  the  adept  lies  in  higher  regions — 
chiefly  upon  the  arupa  levels  of  the  devachanic  plane 
or  heaven-world,  where  he  may  direct  his  energies 
to  the  influencing  of  the  true  individuality  of  man, 
and  not  the  mere  personality  which  is  all  that  can 
be  reached  in  the  astral  or  physical  world.  The 
strength  which  he  puts  forth  in  that  more  exalted 
realm  produces  results  greater,  more  far-reaching 
and  more  lasting  than  any  which  can  be  attained 
by  the  expenditure  of  even  ten  times  the  force  down 
here ;  and  the  work  up  there  is  such  as  he  alone  can 
fully  accomplish,  while  that  on  lower  planes  may  be 
at  any  rate  to  some  extent  achieved  by  those  whose 
feet  are  yet  upon  the  earlier  steps  of  the  great  stair- 
way which  will  one  day  lead  them  to  the  position 
where  he  stands. 

The  same  remarks  apply  also  in  the  case  of  the 
devas.  Belonging  as  they  do  to  a  higher  kingdom 
of  nature  than  ours,  their  work  seems  for  the  most 
part  entirely  unconnected  with  humanity;  and  even 
those  of  their  orders — and  there  are  some  such — 
which  do  sometimes  respond  to  our  higher  yearnings 
or  appeals,  do  so  on  the  mental  plane  rather  than  on 
the  physical  or  astral,  and  more  frequexitly  in  the 
periods  between  our  incarnations  than  during  our 
earthly  lives. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  some  instances  of  such 


*7 

help  were  observed  in  the  course  of  investigations 
into  the  subdivisions  of  the  devachanic  plane  which 
were  undertaken  when  the  Theosophical  manual  on 
the  subject  was  in  preparation.  In  one  case  a  deva 
was  found  teaching  the  most  wonderful  celestial 
music  to  a  chorister;  and  in  another  one  of  a  dif- 
ferent class  was  giving  instruction  and  guidance 
to  an  astronomer  who  was  seeking  to  comprehend 
the  form  and  structure  of  the  universe. 

These  two  were  but  examples  of  many  instances  in 
which  the  great  deva  kingdom  was  found  to  be  help- 
ing onward  the  evolution  and  responding  to  the 
higher  aspirations  of  man  after  death ;  and  there  are 
methods  by  which,  even  during  earth-life,  these  great 
ones  may  be  approached,  and  an  infinity  of  know- 
ledge acquired  from  them,  though  even  then  such 
intercourse  is  gained  rather  by  rising  to  their  plane 
than  by  invoking  them  to  descend  to  ours. 

In  the  ordinary  events  of  our  physical  life  the  deva 
very  rarely  interferes — indeed,  he  is  so  fully  occu- 
pied with  the  far  grander  work  of  his  own  plane  that 
he  is  probably  scarcely  conscious  of  this ;  and  though 
it  may  occasionally  happen  that  he  becomes  aware 
of  some  human  sorrow  or  difficulty  which  excites  his 
pity  and  moves  him  to  endeavour  to  help  in  some 
way,  his  wider  vision  undoubtedly  recognizes  that  at 
the  present  stage  of  evolution  such  interpositions 


28 

would  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  be  productive  of 
infinitely  more  harm  than  good. 

There  was  indubitably  a  period  in  the  past — in  the 
infancy  of  the  human  race — when  it  was  much  more 
largely  assisted  from  outside  than  is  at  present  the 
case.  At  the  time  when  all  its  Buddhas  and  Manus, 
and  even  its  more  ordinary  leaders  and  teachers,  were 
drawn  either  from  the  ranks  of  the  deva  evolution 
or  from  the  perfected  humanity  of  a  more  advanced 
planet,  any  such  assistance  as  we  are  considering  in 
this  treatise  must  also  have  been  given  by  these  ex- 
alted beings.  But  as  man  progresses  he  becomes 
himself  qualified  to  act  as  a  helper,  first  on  the  physi- 
cal plane  and  then  on  higher  levels ;  and  we  have  now 
reached  a  stage  at  which  humanity  ought  to  be  able 
to  provide,  and  to  some  slight  extent  does  provide, 
invisible  helpers  for  itself,  thus  setting  free  for  still 
more  useful  and  elevated  work  those  beings  who  are 
capable  of  it 

It  becomes  obvious  then  that  such  assistance  as 
that  to  which  we  are  here  referring  may  most  fitly 
be  given  by  men  and  women  at  a  particular  stage 
of  their  evolution ;  not  by  the  adepts,  since  they  are 
capable  of  doing  far  grander  and  more  widely  useful 
work,  and  not  by  the  ordinary  person  of  no  special 
spiritual  development,  for  he  would  be  unable  to  be 
of  any  use.    Just  as  these  considerations  would  lead 


29 

us  to  expect,  we  find  that  this  work  of  helping  on 
the  astral  and  lower  mental  planes  is  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  the  pupils  of  the  Masters — men  who, 
though  yet  far  from  the  attainment  of  adeptship, 
have  evolved  themselves  to  the  extent  of  being  able 
to  function  consciously  upon  the  planes  in  question. 

Some  of  these  have  taken  the  further  step  of  com- 
pleting the  links  between  the  physical  consciousness 
and  that  of  the  higher  levels,  and  they  therefore  have 
the  undoubted  advantage  of  recollecting  in  waking 
life  what  they  have  done  and  what  they  have  learnt 
in  those  other  worlds ;  but  there  are  many  others 
who,  though  as  yet  unable  to  carry  their  conscious- 
ness through  unbroken,  are  nevertheless  by  no 
means  wasting  the  hours  when  they  think  they  are 
asleep,  but  spending  them  in  noble  and  unselfish 
labour  for  their  fellow-men. 

What  this  labour  is  we  will  proceed  to  consider, 
but  before  we  enter  upon  that  part  of  the  subject  we 
will  first  refer  to  an  objection  which  is  very  fre- 
quently brought  forward  with  regard  to  such  work, 
and  we  will  also  dispose  of  the  comparatively  rare 
cases  in  which  the  agents  are  either  nature-spirits  or 
men  who  have  cast  off  the  physical  body. 

People  whose  grasp  of  Theosophical  ideas  is  as 
yet  imperfect  are  often  in  doubt  as  to  whether  it  is 
allowable  for  them  to  try  to  help  some  one  whom 


30 

they  find  in  sorrow  or  difficulty,  lest  they  should 
interfere  with  the  fate  which  has  been  decreed  for 
him  by  the  absolute  justice  of  the  eternal  law  of 
karma.  "The  man  is  in  his  present  position,"  they 
say  in  effect,  "because  he  has  deserved  it ;  he  is  now 
working  out  the  perfectly  natural  result  of  some  evil 
which  he  has  committed  in  the  past ;  what  right  have 
I  to  interfere  with  the  action  of  the  great  cosmic  law 
by  trying  to  ameliorate  his  condition,  either  on  the 
astral  plane  or  the  physical  ?" 

Now  the  good  people  who  make  such  suggestions 
are  really,  however  unconsciously  to  themselves,  ex- 
hibiting the  most  colossal  conceit,  for  their  position 
implies  two  astounding  assumptions ;  first,  that  they 
know  exactly  what  another  man's  karma  has  been, 
and  how  long  it  has  decreed  that  his  sufferings  shall 
last ;  and  secondly,  that  they — the  insects  of  a  day — 
could  absolutely  override  the  cosmic  law  and  prevent 
the  due  working-out  of  karma  by  any  action  of 
theirs.  We  may  be  well  assured  that  the  great 
karmic  deities  are  perfectly  well  able  to  manage  their 
business  without  our  assistance,  and  we  need  have 
no  fear  that  any  steps  we  may  take  can  by  any  pos- 
sibility cause  them  the  slightest  difficulty  or  un- 
easiness. 

If  a  man's  karma  is  such  that  he  cannot  be  helped, 
then  all  our  well-meant  efforts  in  that  direction  will 


3* 

fail,  though  we  shall  nevertheless  have  gained  good 
karma  for  ourselves  by  making  them.  What  the 
man's  karma  has  been  is  no  business  of  ours;  our 
duty  is  to  give  help  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  and 
our  right  is  only  to  the  act ;  the  result  is  in  other  and 
higher  hands.  How  can  we  tell  how  a  man's  account 
stands?  For  all  we  know  he  may  just  have  ex- 
hausted his  evil  karma,  and  be  at  this  moment  at  the 
very  point  where  a  helping  hand  is  needed  to  give 
relief  and  raise  him  out  of  his  trouble  or  depression ; 
why  should  not  we  have  the  pleasure  and  privilege 
of  doing  that  good  deed  as  well  as  another?  If  we 
can  help  him,  then  that  fact  of  itself  shows  that  he 
has  deserved  to  be  helped;  but  we  can  never  know 
unless  we  try.  In  any  case  the  law  of  karma  will 
take  care  of  itself,  and  we  need  not  trouble  ourselves 
about  it. 

The  cases  in  which  assistance  is  given  to  man- 
kind by  nature-spirits  are  few.  The  majority  of 
such  creatures  shun  the  haunts  of  man,  and  r.etire 
before  him,  disliking  his  emanations  and  the  per- 
petual bustle  and  unrest  which  he  creates  all  around 
him.  Also,  except  some  of  their  higher  orders,  they 
are  generally  inconsequent  and  thoughtless — more 
like  happy  children  at  play  under  exceedingly  favour- 
able physical  conditions  than  like  grave  and  responsi- 
ble entities.    Still  it  sometimes  happens  that  one  of 


32 

them  will  become  attached  to  a  human  being,  and  do 
him  many  a  good  turn;  but  "at  the  present  stage  of 
its  evolution  this  department  of  nature  cannot  be 
relied  upon  for  anything  like  steady  co-operation  in 
the  work  of  invisible  helpers.  For  a  fuller  account 
of  the  nature-spirits  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  fifth 
of  our  Theosophical  manuals. 

Again,  help  is  sometimes  given  by  those  recently 
departed — those  who  are  still  lingering  on  the  astral 
plane,  and  still  in  close  touch  with  earthly  affairs,  as 
(probably)  in  the  above-mentioned  case  of  the 
mother  who  saved  her  children  from  falling  down  a 
well.  But  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  amount  of 
such  help  available  must  naturally  be  exceedingly 
limited.  The  more  unselfish  and  helpful  a  person  is, 
the  less  likely  is  he  to  be  found  after  death  lingering 
in  full  consciousness  on  the  lower  levels  of  the  astral 
plane,  from  which  the  earth  is  most  readily  access- 
ible. In  any  case,  unless  he  were  an  exceptionally 
bad  man,  his  stay  within  the  realm  whence  alone  any 
interference  would  be  possible  would  be  compara- 
tively short;  and  although  from  the  heaven- world 
he  may  still  shed  benign  influence  upon  those  whom 
he  has  loved  on  earth,  it  will  usually  be  rather  of  the 
nature  of  a  general  benediction  than  a  force  capable 
of  bringing  about  definite  results  in  a  specific  case, 
such  as  those  which  we  have  been  considering. 


33 

Again,  many  of  the  departed  who  wish  to  help 
those  whom  they  left  behind,  find  themselves  quite 
unable  to  influence  them  in  any  way,  since  to  work 
from  one  plane  upon  an  entity  on  another  requires 
either  very  great  sensitiveness  on  the  part  of  that 
entity,  or  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge  and  skill 
on  the  part  of  the  operator.  Therefore,  although  in- 
stances of  apparitions  shortly  after  death  are  by  no 
means  uncommon,  it  is  rare  to  find  one  in  which  the 
departed  person  has  really  done  anything  useful,  or 
succeeded  in  impressing  what  he  wished  upon  the 
friend  or  relation  whom  he  visited.  There  are  such 
cases,  of  course — a  good  many  of  them  when  we 
come  to  put  them  all  together ;  but  they  are  not  nu- 
merous compared  to  the  great  number  of  ghosts  who 
have  succeeded  in  showing  themselves.  So  that  but 
little  help  is  usually  given  by  the  dead — indeed,  as 
will  presently  be  explained,  it  is  far  more  common 
for  them  to  be  themselves  in  need  of  assistance  than 
to  be  able  to  accord  it  to  others. 

At  present,  therefore,  the  main  bulk  of  the  work 
which  has  to  be  done  along  these  lines  falls  to  the 
share  of  those  living  persons  who  are  able  to  function 
consciously  on  the  astral  plane. 


CHAPTER  V. 
The  Reality  of  Superphysical  Life. 

It  seems  difficult  for  those  who  are  accustomed 
only  to  the  ordinary  and  somewhat  materialistic 
lines  of  thought  of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  believe 
in  and  realize  fully  a  condition  of  perfect  conscious- 
ness apart  from  the  physical  body.  Every  Christian, 
at  any  rate,  is  bound  by  the  very  foundations  of  his 
creed  to  believe  that  he  possesses  a  soul ;  but  if  you 
suggest  to  him  the  possibility  that  that  soul  may  be  a 
sufficiently  real  thing  to  become  visible  under  certain 
conditions  apart  from  the  body  either  during  life  or 
after  death,  the  chances  are  ten  to  one  that  he  will 
scornfully  tell  you  that  he  does  not  believe  in  ghosts, 
and  that  such  an  idea  is  nothing  but  an  anachronistic 
survival  of  an  exploded  mediaeval  superstition. 

If,  therefore,  we  are  at  all  to  comprehend  the  work 
of  the  band  of  invisible  helpers,  and  perchance  our- 
selves to  learn  to  assist  in  it,  we  must  shake  ourselves 
free  from  the  trammels  of  contemporary  thought  on 
these  subjects,  and  endeavour  to  grasp  the  great 
truth  (now  a  demonstrated  fact  to  many  among  us) 

34 


35 

that  the  physical  body  is  in  simple  truth  nothing  but 
a  vehicle  or  vesture  of  the  real  man.  It  is  put  off 
permanently  at  death,  but  it  is  also  put  off  tempora- 
rily every  night  when  we  go  to  sleep — indeed  the 
process  of  falling  asleep  consists  in  this  very  action 
of  the  real  man  in  his  astral  vehicle  slipping  out  of 
the  physical  body. 

Again  I  repeat,  this  is  no  mere  hypothesis  or  in- 
genious supposition.  There  are  many  among  us  who 
are  able  to  perform  (and  do  perform  every  day  of 
their  lives)  this  elementary  act  of  magic  in  full  con- 
sciousness— who  pass  from  one  plane  to  the  other  at 
will;  and  if  that  is  clearly  realized,  it  will  become 
apparent  how  grotesquely  absurd  to  them  must  ap- 
pear the  ordinary  unreasoning  assertion  that  such  a 
thing  is  utterly  impossible.  It  is  like  telling  a  man 
that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  fall  asleep,  and  that 
if  he  thinks  he  has  ever  done  so  he  is  under  a 
hallucination. 

Now  the  man  who  has  not  yet  developed  the  link 
between  the  astral  and  physical  consciousness  is  un- 
able to  leave  his  denser  body  at  will,  or  to  recollect 
most  of  what  happens  to  him  while  away  from  it;  but 
the  fact  nevertheless  remains  that  he  leaves  it  every 
time  he  sleeps,  and  may  be  seen  by  any  trained  clair- 
voyant either  hovering  over  it  or  wandering  about  at 
a  greater  or  less  distance  from  it,  as  the  case  may  be. 


r  36 

The  entirely  undeveloped  person  usually  floats 
close  above  his  physical  body,  scarcely  less  asleep 
than  it  is,  and  comparatively  shapeless  and  inchoate, 
and  it  is  found  that  he  cannot  be  drawn  away  from 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  that  physical  body 
without  causing  serious  discomfort  which  would  in 
fact  awaken  it.  As  the  man  evolves,  however,  his 
astral  body  grows  more  definite  and  more  conscious, 
and  so  becomes  a  fitter  vehicle  for  him.  In  the  case 
of  the  majority  of  intelligent  and  cultured  people  the 
degree  of  consciousness  is  already  very  considerable, 
and  a  man  who  is  at  all  spiritually  developed  is  as 
fully  himself  in  that  vehicle  as  in  this  denser  body. 

But  though  he  may  be  fully  conscious  on  the  astral 
plane  during  sleep,  and  able  to  move  about  on  it  free- 
ly if  he  wishes  to  do  so,  it  does  not  yet  follow  that  he 
is  ready  to  join  the  band  of  helpers.  Most  people  at 
this  stage  are  so  wrapped  up  in  their  own  train  of 
thought — usually  a  continuation  of  some  line  taken 
up  in  waking  hours — that  they  are  like  a  man  in  a 
brown  study,  so  much  absorbed  as  to  be  practically 
entirely  heedless  of  all  that  is  going  on  about  them. 
And  in  many  ways  it  is  well  that  this  is  so,  for  there 
is  much  upon  the  astral  plane  which  might  be  un- 
nerving and  terrifying  to  one  who  had  not  the  cour- 
age born  of  full  knowledge  as  to  the  real  nature  of 
all  that  he  would  see. 


37 

Sometimes  a  man  gradually  rouses  himself  out  of 
this  condition — wakes  up  to  the  astral  world  around 
him,  as  it  were;  but  more  often  he  remains  in  that 
state  until  someone  who  is  already  active  there  takes 
him  in  hand  and  wakens  him.  This  is,  however,  not 
a  responsibility  to  be  lightly  undertaken,  for  while  it 
is  comparatively  easy  thus  to  wake  a  man  up  on  the 
astral  plane,  it  is  practically  impossible,  except  by  a 
most  undesirable  exercise  of  mesmeric  influence,  to 
put  him  to  sleep  again.  So  that  before  a  member  of 
the  band  of  workers  will  thus  awaken  a  dreamer,  he 
must  fully  satisfy  himself  that  the  man's  disposition 
is  such  that  he  will  make  good  use  of  the  additional 
powers  that  will  then  be  put  into  his  hands,  and  also 
that  his  knowledge  and  his  courage  are  sufficient  to 
make  it  reasonably  certain  that  no  harm  will  come 
to  him  as  a  result  of  the  action. 

Such  awakening  so  performed  will  put  a  man  in  a 
position  to  join  if  he  will  the  band  of  those  who  help 
mankind.  But  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that 
this  does  not  necessarily  or  even  usually  bring  with 
it  the  power  of  remembering  in  the  waking  conscious- 
ness anything  which  has  been  done.  That  capacity 
has  to  be  attained  by  the  man  for  himself,  and  in 
most  cases  it  does  not  come  for  years  afterwards — 
perhaps  not  even  in  the  same  life.  But  happily  this 
lack  of  memory  in  the  body  in  no  way  impedes  the 


38 

work  out  of  the  body ;  so  that,  except  for  the  satis- 
faction to  a  man  of  knowing  during  his  waking  hours 
upon  what  work  he  has  been  engaged  during  his 
sleep,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  importance.  What  really 
matters  is  that  the  work  should  be  done — not  that  we 
should  remember  who  did  it. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
A  Timely  Intervention. 

Varied  as  is  this  work  on  the  astral  plane,  it  is  all 
directed  to  one  great  end — the  furtherance,  in  how- 
ever humble  a  degree,  of  the  processes  of  evolution. 
Occasionally  it  is  connected  with  the  development  of 
the  lower  kingdoms,  which  it  is  possible  slightly  to 
accelerate  under  certain  conditions.  A  duty  towards 
these  lower  kingdoms,  elemental  as  well  as  animal 
and  vegetable,  is  distinctly  recognized  by  our  adept 
leaders,  since  it  is  in  some  cases  only  through  con- 
nection with  or  use  by  man  that  their  progress  takes 
place. 

But  naturally  by  far  the  largest  and  most  impor- 
tant part  of  the  work  is  connected  with  humanity 
in  some  way  or  other.  The  services  rendered  are 
of  many  and  various  kinds,  but  chiefly  concerned 
with  man's  spiritual  development,  such  physical  in- 
terventions as  are  recounted  in  the  earlier  part  of 
this  book  being  exceedingly  rare.  They  do,  iiow- 
ever,  occasionally  take  place,  and  though  it  is  my 
wish  to  emphasize  rather  the  possibility  of  extending 
mental  and  moral  help  to  our  fellow-men,  it  will  per- 
haps be  well  to  give  two  or  three  instances  in  which 


40 

friends  personally  known  to  me  have  rendered  phys- 
ical assistance  to  those  in  sore  need  of  it,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  seen  how  these  examples  from  the  experi- 
ence of  the  helpers  gear  in  with  the  accounts  given  by 
those  who  have  received  the  supernormal  aid — such 
stories,  I  mean,  as  those  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
literature  of  so-called  "supernatural  occurrences." 

In  the  course  of  the  recent  rebellion  in  Matabele- 
land  one  of  our  members  was  sent  upon  an  errarid 
of  mercy  which  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the 
way  in  which  help  upon  this  lower  plane  has  occa- 
sionally been  given.  It  seems  that  one  night  a  cer- 
tain farmer  and  his  family  in  that  country  were  sleep- 
ing tranquilly  in  fancied  security,  quite  unaware 
that  only  a  few  miles  away  relentless  hordes  of  sav- 
age foes  were  lying  in  ambush  maturing  fiendish 
plots  of  murder  and  rapine.  Our  member's  business 
was  in  some  way  or  other  to  arouse  the  sleeping  fam- 
ily to  a  sense  of  the  terrible  danger  which  so  unex- 
pectedly menaced  them,  and  she  found  this  by  no 
means  an  easy  matter. 

An  attempt  to  impress  the  idea  of  imminent  peril 
upon  the  brain  of  the  farmer  failed  utterly,  and  as 
the  urgency  of  the  case  seemed  to  demand  strong 
measures,  our  friend  decided  to  materialize  herself 
sufficiently  to  shake  the  housewife  by  the  shoulder 
and  adjure  her  to  get  up  and  look  about  her.    The 


4* 

moment  she  saw  that  she  had  been  successful  in  at- 
tracting attention  she  vanished,  and  the  farmer's  wife 
has  never  from  that  day  to  this  been  able  to  find  out 
which  of  her  neighbours  it  was  who  roused  her  so 
opportunely,  and  thus  saved  the  lives  of  the  entire 
family,  who  but  for  this  mysterious  intervention 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  massacred  in  their 
beds  half  an  hour  later ;  nor  can  she  even  now  under- 
stand how  this  friend  in  need  contrived  to  make  her 
way  in,  when  all  the  windows  and  doors  were  found 
so  securely  barred. 

Being  thus  abruptly  awakened,  the  housewife  was 
half  inclined  to  consider  the  warning  as  a  mere 
dream;  however,  she  arose  and  looked  round  just  to 
see  that  all  was  right,  and  fortunate  it  was  that  she 
did  so,  for  though  she  found  nothing  amiss  indoors 
she  had  no  sooner  thrown  open  a  shutter  than  she  saw 
the  sky  red  with  a  distant  conflagration.  She  at  once 
roused  her  husband  and  the  rest  of  her  family,  and 
owing  to  this  timely  notice  they  were  able  to  escape 
to  a  place  of  concealment  near  at  hand  just  before  the 
arrival  of  the  horde  of  savages,  who  destroyed  the 
house  and  ravaged  the  fields  indeed,  but  were  disap- 
pointed of  the  human  prey  which  they  had  expected. 
The  feelings  of  the  rescuer  may  be  imagined  when 
she  read  in  the  newspaper  some  time  afterwards  an 
account  of  the  providential  deliverance  of  this  family. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  "Angel  Story/' 

-  Another  instance  of  intervention  on  the  physical 
plane  which  occurred  a  short  time  ago  makes  a  very 
beautiful  little  story,  though  this  time  only  one  life 
was  saved.  It  needs,  however,  a  few  words  of  pre- 
liminary explanation.  Among  our  band  of  helpers 
here  in  Europe  are  two  who  were  brothers  long  ago 
in  ancient  Egypt,  and  are  still  warmly  attached  to 
one  another.  In  this  present  incarnation  there  is  a 
wide  difference  in  age  between  them,  one  being  ad- 
vanced in  middle  life,  while  the  other  was  at  that 
time  a  mere  child  in  the  physical  body,  though  an  ego 
of  considerable  advancement  and  promise.  Naturally 
it  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  elder  to  train  and  guide  the 
younger  in  the  occult  work  to  which  they  are  so 
heartily  devoted,  and  as  both  are  fully  conscious  and 
active  on  the  astral  plane  they  spend  most  of  the  time 
during  which  their  grosser  bodies  are  asleep  in  la- 
bouring together  under  the  direction  of  their  com- 
mon Master,  and  giving  to  both  living  and  dead  such 
help  as  is  within  their  power. 

42 


43 

I  will  quote  the  story  of  the  particular  incident 
which  I  wish  to  relate  from  a  letter  written  by  the 
elder  of  the  two  helpers  immediately  after  its  oc- 
currence, as  the  description  there  given  is  more  vivid 
and  picturesque  than  any  account  in  the  third  person 
could  possibly  be. 

"We  were  going  about  quite  other  business,  when 
Cyril  suddenly  cried,  'What's  that?'  for  we  heard  a 
terrible  scream  of  pain  or  fright.  In  a  moment  we 
were  on  the  spot,  and  found  that  a  boy  of  about 
eleven  or  twelve  had  fallen  over  a  cliff  on  to  some 
rocks  below,  and  was  very  badly  hurt.  He  had 
broken  a  leg  and  an  arm,  poor  fellow,  but  what  was 
still  worse  was  a  dreadful  cut  in  the  thigh,  from 
which  blood  was  pouring  in  a  torrent.  Cyril  cried, 
'Let  us  help  him  quick,  or  he'll  die !' 

"In  emergencies  of  this  kind  one  has  to  think 
quickly.  There  were  clearly  two  things  to  be  done ; 
that  bleeding  must  be  stopped,  and  physical  help 
must  be  procured.  I  was  obliged  to  materialize 
either  Cyril  or  myself,  for  we  wanted  physical  hands 
at  once  to  tie  a  bandage,  and  besides  it  seemed  better 
that  the  poor  boy  should  see  someone  standing  by 
him  in  his  trouble.  I  felt  that  while  undoubtedly  he 
would  be  more  at  home  with  Cyril  than  with  me,  I 
should  probably  be  more  readily  able  to  procure  help 


44 

than  Cyril  would,  so  the  division  of  labour  was  ob- 
vious. 

"The  plan  worked  capitally.  I  materialized  Cyril 
instantly  (he  does  not  know  yet  how  to  do  it  for 
himself),  and  told  him  to  take  the  boy's  neckerchief 
and  tie  it  round  the  thigh,  and  twist  a  stick  through 
it  'Won't  it  hurt  him  terribly  ?'  said  Cyril ;  but  he 
did  it,  and  the  blood  stopped  flowing.  The  injured 
boy  seemed  half  unconscious,  and  could  scarcely 
speak,  but  he  looked  up  at  the  shining  little  form 
bending  so  anxiously  over  him,  and  asked,  'Be  you 
an  angel,  master?'  Cyril  smiled  so  prettily,  and  re- 
plied, 'No,  I'm  only  a  boy,  but  I've  come  to  help 
you;'  and  then  I  left  him  to  comfort  the  sufferer 
while  I  rushed  off  for  the  boy's  mother,  who  lived 
about  a  mile  away. 

"The  trouble  I  had  to  force  into  that  woman's 
head  the  conviction  that  something  was  wrong,  and 
that  she  must  go  and  see  about  it,  you  would  never 
believe;  but  at  last  she  threw  down  the  pan  she  was 
cleaning,  and  said  aloud,  'Well,  I  don't  know  what's 
come  over  me,  but  I  must  go  and  find  the  boy.' 
When  she  once  started  I  was  able  to  guide  her  with- 
out much  difficulty,  though  all  the  time  I  was  hold- 
ing Cyril  together  by  will-power,  lest  the  poor 
child's  angel  should  suddenly  vanish  from  before  his 
eyes. 


45 

"You  see,  when  you  materialize  a  form  you  are 
changing  matter  from  its  natural  state  into  another 
— temporarily  opposing  the  cosmic  will,  as  it  were ; 
and  if  you  take  your  mind  off  it  for  one  half-second, 
back  it  flies  into  its  original  condition  like  a  flash  of 
lightning.  So  I  could  not  give  more  than  half  my 
attention  to  that  woman,  but  still  I  got  her  along 
somehow,  and  as  soon  as  she  came  round  the  corner 
of  the  cliff  I  let  Cyril  disappear;  but  she  had  seen 
him,  and  now  that  village  has  one  of  the  best-at- 
tested stories  of  angelic  intervention  on  record ! 

"The  accident  happened  in  the  early  morning,  and 
the  same  evening  I  looked  in  (astrally)  upon  the 
family  to  see  how  matters  were  going  on.  The  poor 
boy's  leg  and  arm  had  been  set,  and  the  great  cut 
bandaged,  and  he  lay  in  bed  looking  very  pale  and 
weak,  but  evidently  going  to  recover  in  time.  The 
mother  had  a  couple  of  neighbours  in,  and  was  tell- 
ing them  the  story ;  and  a  curious  tale  it  sounded  to 
one  who  knew  the  real  facts. 

"She  explained,  in  very  many  words,  how  she 
couldn't  tell  what  it  was,  but  something  came  over 
her  all  in  a  minute  like,  making  her  feel  something 
had  happened  to  the  boy,  and  she  must  go  out  and 
see  after  him ;  how  at  first  she  thought  it  was  non- 
sense, and  tried  to  throw  off  the  feeling,  'but  it 


46 

warn't  no  use — she  just  had  to  go.'  She  told  how 
she  didn't  know  what  made  her  go  round  by  that 
cliff  more  than  any  other  way,  but  it  just  happened 
so,  and  as  she  turned  round  the  corner  there  she  saw 
him  lying  propped  up  against  a  rock,  and  kneeling 
beside  him  was  the  'beautifullest  child  ever  she  saw, 
dressed  all  in  white  and  shining,  with  rosy  cheeks 
and  lovely  brown  eyes;'  and  how  he  smiled  at  her 
'so  heavenly  like/  and  then  all  in  a  moment  he  was 
not  there,  and  at  first  she  was  so  startled  she  didn't 
know  what  to  think;  and  then  all  at  once  she  felt 
what  it  was,  and  fell  on  her  knees  and  thanked  God 
for  sending  one  of  his  angels  to  help  her  poor  boy. 

"Then  she  told  how  when  she  lifted  him  to  carry 
him  home  she  wanted  to1  take  off  the  handkerchief 
that  was  cutting  into  his  poor  leg  so,  but  he  would 
not  let  her,  because  he  said  the  angel  had  tied  it  and 
said  he  was  not  to  touch  it ;  and  how  when  she  told 
the  doctor  this  afterwards  he  explained  to  her  that 
if  she  had  unfastened  it  the  boy  would  certainly 
have  died. 

"Then  she  repeated  the  boy's  part  of  the  tale — 
how  the  moment  after  he  fell  this  lovely  little  angel 
came  to  him  (he  knew  it  was  an  angel  because  he 
knew  there  had  been  nobody  in  sight  for  half  a 
mile  round  when  he  was  at  the  top  of  the  cliff  just 


47 

before — only  he  could  not  understand  why  it  hadn't 
any  wings,  and  why  it  said  it  was  only  a  boy) — 
how  it  lifted  him  against  the  rock  and  tied  up  his 
leg,  and  then  began  to  talk  to  him  and  tell  him  he 
need  not  be  frightened,  because  somebody  was  gone 
to  fetch  mother,  and  she  would  be  there  directly; 
how  it  kissed  him  and  tried  to  make  him  comfort- 
able, and  how  its  soft,  warm,  little  hand  held  his  all 
the  time,  while  it  told  him  strange,  beautiful  stories 
which  he  could  not  clearly  remember,  but  he  knew 
they  were  very  good,  because  he  had  almost  for- 
gotten he  was  hurt  until  he  saw  mother  coming; 
and  how  then  it  assured  him  he  would  soon  be  well 
again,  and  smiled  and  squeezed  his  hand,  and  then 
somehow  it  was  gone. 

"Since  then  there  has  been  quite  a  religious  re- 
vival in  that  village !  Their  minister  has  told  them 
that  so  signal  an  interposition  of  divine  providence 
must  have  been  meant  as  a  sign  to  them,  to  rebuke 
scoffers  and  to  prove  the  truth  of  holy  scripture 
and  of  the  Christian  religion — and  nobody  seems 
to  see  the  colossal  conceit  involved  in  such  an  aston- 
ishing proposition. 

"But  the  effect  on  the  boy  has  been  undoubtedly 
good,  morally  as  well  as  physically ;  by  all  accounts 
he  was  a  careless  enough  young  scamp  before,  but 
now  he  feels  'his  angel'  may  be  near  him  at  any 


48 

time,  and  he  will  never  do  or  say  anything  rough  or 
coarse  or  angry,  lest  it  should  see  or  hear.  The  one 
great  desire  of  his  life  is  that  some  day  he  may  see 
it  again,  and  he  knows  that  when  he  dies  its  lovely 
face  will  be  the  first  to  greet  him  on  the  other  side." 

A  beautiful  and  pathetic  little  story,  truly.  The 
moral  drawn  from  the  occurrence  by  the  village  and 
its  minister  is  perhaps  somewhat  of  a  non  sequitur; 
yet  the  testimony  to  the  existence  of  at  least  some- 
thing beyond  this  material  plane  must  surely  do 
the  people  more  good  than  harm,  and  after  all  the 
mother's  conclusion  from  what  she  saw  was  a  per- 
fectly correct  one,  though  more  accurate  knowledge 
would  probably  have  led  her  to  express  it  a  little 
differently. 

An  interesting  fact  afterwards  discovered  by  the 
investigations  of  the  writer  of  the  letter  throws  a 
curious  side-light  upon  the  reasons  underlying  such 
incidents.  It  was  found  that  the  two  boys  had  met 
before,  and  that  some  thousands  of  years  ago  the 
one  who  fell  from  the  cliff  had  been  the  slave  of  the 
other,  and  had  once  saved  his  young  master's  life  at 
the  risk  of  his  own,  and  had  been  liberated  in  con- 
sequence ;  and  now,  long  afterwards,  the  master  not 
only  repays  the  debt  in  kind,  but  also  gives  his  for- 
mer slave  a  high  ideal  and  an  inducement  to  moral- 
ity of  life  which  will  probably  change  the  whole 


49 

course  of  his  future  evolution.  So  true  is  it  that  no 
good  deed  ever  goes  unrewarded  by  karma,  how- 
ever tardy  it  may  seem  in  its  action — that 

Though  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly, 

Yet  they  grind  exceeding  small ; 
Though  with  patience  stands  He  waitings 

With  exactness  grinds  He  all. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Story  of  a  Fire. 

Another  piece  of  work  done  by  the  same  boy 
Cyril  furnishes  an  almost  exact  parallel  to  some  of 
the  stories  from  the  books  which  I  have  given  in 
earlier  pages.  He  and  his  older  friend,  it  seems, 
were  passing  along  in  the  prosecution  of  their  usual 
work  one  night,  when  they  noticed  the  fierce  glare 
of  a  big  fire  below  them,  and  promptly  dived  down 
to  see  if  they  could  be  of  any  use. 

It  was  a  great  hotel  which  was  in  flames,  a  huge 
caravanserai  on  the  edge  of  a  great  lake.  The 
house,  many  stories  in  height,  formed  three  sides 
of  a  square  round  a  sort  of  garden,  planted  with 
trees  and  flowers,  while  the  lake  formed  the  fourth 
►side.  The  two  wings  ran  right  down  to  the  lake, 
the  big  bay  windows  which  terminated  them  almost 
projecting  over  the  water,  so  as  to  leave  only  quite  a 
narrow  passage-way  under  them  at  the  two  sides. 

The  front  and  wings  were  built  round  inside 
wells,  which  contained  also  the  lattice-work  shafts 
of  the  lifts,  so  that  when  once  the  fire  broke  out,  it 

50 


5i 

spread  with  almost  incredible  rapidity,  and  before 
our  friends  saw  it  on  their  astral  journey  all  the 
middle  floors  in  each  of  the  three  great  blocks  were 
in  flames.  Fortunately  the  inmates — except  one  lit- 
tle boy — had  already  been  rescued,  though  some 
of  them  had  sustained  very  serious  burns  and  other 
injuries. 

This  little  fellow  had  been  forgotten  in  one  of  the 
upper  rooms  of  the  left  wing,  for  his  parents  were 
out  at  a  ball,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  fire,  while 
naturally  enough  no  one  else  thought  of  the  lad  till 
it  was  far  too  late.  The  fire  had  gained  such  a  hold 
on  the  middle  floors  of  that  wing  that  nothing  could 
have  been  done,  even  if  anyone  had  remembered 
him,  as  his  room  faced  on  to  the  inner  garden  which 
has  been  mentioned,  so  that  he  was  completely  cut 
off  from  all  outside  help.  Besides,  he  was  not  even 
aware  of  his  danger,  for  the  dense,  suffocating 
smoke  had  so  gradually  filled  the  room  that  his  sleep 
had  grown  deeper  and  deeper,  till  he  was  all  but 
stupefied. 

In  this  state  he  was  discovered  by  Cyril,  who 
seems  to  be  specially  attracted  towards  children  in 
need  or  danger.  He  first  tried  to  make  some  of  the 
people  remember  the  boy,  but  in  vain;  and  in  any 
case  it  seemed  scarcely  possible  that  they  could  have 
helped  him,  so  that  it  was  soon  evident  that  this  was 


5* 

merely  a  waste  of  time.  The  older  helper  then  ma- 
terialized Cyril,  as  before,  in  the  room,  and  set  him 
to  work  to  awaken  and  rouse  up  the  more  than  half- 
stupefied  child.  After  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  this 
was  accomplished  to  some  extent,  but  the  boy  re- 
mained in  a  half-dazed,  semi-conscious  condition 
through  all  that  followed,  so  that  he  needed  to  be 
pushed  and  pulled  about,  guided  and  helped  at  every 
turn. 

The  two  boys  first  crept  out  of  the  room  into  the 
central  passage  which  ran  through  the  wing,  and 
then,  finding  that  the  smoke  and  the  flames  begin- 
ning to  come  through  the  floor  made  it  impassable 
for  a  physical  body,  Cyril  got  the  other  boy  back 
into  the  room  again  and  out  of  the  window  on  to  a 
stone  ledge,  about  a  foot  wide,  which  ran  right  along 
the  block  just  below  the  windows.  Along  this  he 
managed  to  guide  his  companion,  half  balancing  him- 
self on  the  extreme  edge  of  the  ledge,  and  half  float- 
ing on  air,  but  always  placing  himself  outside  of  the 
other,  so  as  to  keep  him  from  dizziness  and  prevent 
him  from  feeling  afraid  of  a  fall. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  block  nearest  the  lake,  in 
which  direction  the  fire  seemed  less  developed,  they 
climbed  in  through  an  open  window  and  again 
reached  the  passage,  hoping  to  find  the  staircase  at 
that  end  still  passable.    But  it,  too,  was  full  of  flame 


S3 

and  smoke ;  so  they  crawled  back  along  the  passage, 
Cyril  advising  his  companion  to  keep  his  mouth  close 
to  the  ground,  till  they  reached  the  latticed  cage  of 
the  lift  running  down  the  long  well  in  the  centre  of 
the  block. 

The  lift  of  course  was  at  the  bottom,  but  they  man- 
aged to  clamber  down  the  lattice  work  inside  the 
cage  till  they  stood  on  the  roof  of  the  elevator  itself. 
Here  they  found  themselves  blocked,  but  luckily 
Cyril  discovered  a  doorway  opening  from  the  cage 
of  the  lift  on  to  a  sort  of  entresol  just  above  the 
ground  floor.  Through  this  they  reached  a  passage, 
which  they  crossed,  the  little  boy  being  half-stifled  by 
the  smoke ;  then  they  made  their  way  through  one  of 
the  rooms  opposite,  and  finally,  clambering  out  of 
the  window,  found  themselves  on  the  top  of  the  ve- 
randa which  ran  along  in  front  of  the  ground  floor, 
between  it  and  the  garden. 

Thence  it  was  easy  enough  to  swarm  down  one  of 
the  pillars  and  reach  the  garden  itself ;  but  even  there 
the  heat  was  intense,  and  the  danger,  when  the  walls 
should  fall,  very  considerable.  So  Cyril  tried  to 
conduct  his  charge  round  the  end  first  of  one,  then 
of  the  other  wing;  but  in  both  cases  the  flames  had 
burst  through,  and  the  narrow,  overhung  passages 
were  quite  impassable.  Finally  they  took  refuge  in 
one  of  the  pleasure  boats  which  were  moored  to  the 


54 

steps  of  the  quay  at  the  side  of  the  garden  next  the 
lake,  and,  casting  loose,  rowed  out  on  to  the  water. 

Cyril  intended  to  row  round  past  the  burning  wing 
and  land  the  boy  whom  he  had  saved ;  but  when  they 
got  some  little  way  out,  they  fell  in  with  a  passing 
lake  steamer,  and  were  seen — for  the  whole  scene 
was  lit  up  by  the  glare  of  the  burning  hotel,  till  every- 
thing was  as  plain  as  in  broad  daylight.  The  steamer 
came  alongside  the  boat  to  take  them  off;  but  in- 
stead of  the  two  boys  they  had  seen,  the  crew  found 
only  one — for  his  older  friend  had  promptly  allowed 
Cyril  to  slip  back  into  his  astral  form,  dissipating  the 
denser  matter  which  had  made  for  the  time  a  material 
body,  and  he  was  therefore  now  invisible. 

A  careful  search  was  made,  of  course,  but  no  trace 
of  the  second  boy  could  be  found,  and  so  it  was  con- 
cluded that  he  must  have  fallen  overboard  and  been 
drowned  just  as  they  came  alongside.  The  child 
who  had  been  rescued  fell  into  a  dead  faint  as  soon 
as  he  was  safe  on  board,  so  they  could  get  no  in- 
formation from  him,  and  when  he  did  recover,  all 
he  could  say  was  that  he  had  seen  the  other  boy  the 
moment  before  they  came  alongside,  and  then  knew 
nothing  more. 

The  steamer  was  bound  down  the  lake  to  a  place 
some  two  days'  sail  distant,  and  it  was  a  week  or  so 
before  the  rescued  boy  could  be  restored  to  his  par- 


55 

ents,  who  of  course  thought  that  he  had  perished 
in  the  flames,  for  though  an  effort  was  made  to  im- 
press on  their  minds  the  fact  that  their  son  had  been 
saved,  it  was  found  impossible  to  convey  the  idea 
to  them,  so  it  may  be  imagined  how  great  was  the 
joy  of  the  meeting. 

The  boy  is  still  well  and  happy,  and  is  never  weary 
of  relating  his  wonderful  adventure.  Many  a  time 
he  has  regretted  that  the  kind  friend  who  saved  him 
should  have  perished  so  mysteriously  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  all  the  danger  seemed  over  at  last.  In- 
deed, he  has  even  ventured  to  suggest  that  perhaps 
he  didn't  perish  after  all — that  perhaps  he  was  a  fairy 
prince ;  but  of  course  this  idea  elicits  nothing  but  tol- 
erant smiles  of  superiority  from  his  elders.  The  kar- 
mic  link  between  him  and  his  preserver  has  not  yet 
been  traced,  but  no  doubt  there  must  be  one  some- 
where. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Materialization  and  Repercussion. 

On  meeting  with  a  story  such  as  this,  students  of- 
ten enquire  whether  the  invisible  helper  is  perfectly 
safe  amidst  these  scenes  of  deadly  peril — whether, 
for  example,  this  boy  who  was  materialized  in  order 
to  save  another  from  a  burning  house  was  not  him- 
self in  some  danger — whether  his  physical  body 
would  not  have  suffered  in  any  way  by  repercussion 
if  his  materialized  form  had  passed  through  the 
flames,  or  fallen  from  the  high  ledge  on  the  edge  of 
which  he  walked  so  unconcernedly.  In  fact,  since 
we  know  that  in  many  cases  the  connection  between 
a  materialized  form  and  a  physical  body  is  sufficiently 
close  to  produce  repercussion,  might  it  not  have  oc- 
curred in  this  case? 

Now  this  subject  of  repercussion  is  an  exceedingly 
abstruse  and  difficult  one,  and  we  are  by  no  means 
yet  in  a  position  fully  to  explain  its  very  remarkable 
phenomena;  indeed,  in  order  to  understand  the  mat- 
ter perfectly,  it  would  probably  be  necessary  to  com- 
prehend the  laws  of  sympathetic  vibration  on  more 

56 


57 

planes  than  one.  Still,  we  do  know  by  observation 
some  of  the  conditions  which  permit  its  action,  and 
some  which  definitely  exclude  it,  and  I  think  we  are 
warranted  in  saying  that  it  was  absolutely  impossible 
here. 

To  see  why  this  is  so  we  must  first  remember  that 
there  are  at  least  three  well-defined  varieties  of  ma- 
terialization, as  anyone  who  has  at  all  an  extended 
experience  of  spiritualism  will  be  aware.  I  am  not 
concerned  at  the  moment  to  enter  upon  any  explana- 
tion as  to  how  these  three  varieties  are  respectively 
produced,  but  am  merely  stating  the  indubitable  fact 
of  their  existence. 

i.  There  is  the  materialization  which,  though 
tangible,  is  not  visible  to  ordinary  physical  sight.  Of 
this  nature  are  the  unseen  hands  which  so  often  clasp 
one's  arm  or  stroke  one's  face  at  a  seance,  which 
sometimes  carry  physical  objects  through  the  air  or 
make  raps  upon  the  table — though  of  course  both 
these  latter  phenomena  may  easily  be  produced  with- 
out a  materialized  hand  at  all. 

2.  There  is  the  materialization  which  though 
visible  is  not  tangible — the  spirit-form  through 
which  one's  hand  passes  as  through  empty  air.  In 
some  cases  this  variety  is  obviously  misty  and  im- 
palpable, but  in  others  its  appearance  is  so  entirely 


58 

normal  that  its  solidity  is  never  doubted  until  some 
one  endeavours  to  grasp  it. 

3.  There  is  the  perfect  materialization  which  is 
both  visible  and  tangible — which  not  only  bears  the 
outward  semblance  of  your  departed  friend,  but 
shakes  you  cordially  by  the  hand  with  the  very  clasp 
that  you  know  so  well. 

Now  while  there  is  a  good  deal  of  evidence  to 
show  that  repercussion  takes  place  under  certain  con- 
ditions in  the  case  of  this  third  kind  of  materializa- 
tion, it  is  by  no  means  so  certain  that  it  can  occur 
with  the  first  or  second  class.  In  the  case  of  the  boy- 
helper  it  is  probable  that  the  materialization  would 
not  be  of  the  third  type,  since  the  greatest  care  is  al- 
ways taken  not  to  expend  more  force  than  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  produce  whatever  result  may  be 
required,  and  it  is  obvious  that  less  energy  would  be 
used  in  the  production  of  the  more  partial  forms 
which  we  have  called  the  first  and  second  classes. 
The  probability  is  that  only  the  arm  with  which  the 
boy  held  his  little  companion  would  be  solid  to  the 
touch,  and  that  the  rest  of  his  body,  though  looking 
perfectly  natural,  would  have  proved  far  less  pal- 
pable if  it  had  been  tested. 

But,  apart  from  this  probability,  there  is  another 
point  to  be  considered.  When  a  full  materialization 
takes  place,  whether  the  subject  be  living  or  dead, 


59 

physical  matter  of  some  sort  has  to  be  gathered  to- 
gether for  the  purpose.  At  a  spiritualistic  seance 
this  matter  is  obtained  by  drawing  largely  upon  the 
etheric  double  of  the  medium — and  sometimes  even 
upon  his  physical  body  also,  since  cases  are  on  record 
in  which  his  weight  has  been  very  considerably  de- 
creased while  manifestations  of  this  character  were 
taking  place. 

This  method  is  employed  by  the  directing  entities 
of  the  seance  simply  because  when  an  available  me- 
dium is  within  reach  it  is  very  much  the  easiest  way 
in  which  a  materialization  can  be  brought  about ;  and 
the  consequence  is  that  the  very  closest  connection 
is  thus  set  up  between  that  medium  and  the  material- 
ized body,  so  that  the  phenomenon  which  (although 
very  imperfectly  understanding  it)  we  call  repercuss- 
ion, occurs  in  its  clearest  form.  If,  for  example,  the 
hands  of  the  materialized  body  be  rubbed  with  chalk, 
that  chalk  will  afterwards  be  found  on  the  hands  of 
the  medium,  even  thcugh  he  may  have  been  all  the 
time  carefully  locked  up  in  a  cabinet  under  circum- 
stances which  absolutely  preclude  any  suspicion  of 
fraud.  If  any  injury  be  inflicted  upon  the  material- 
ized form,  that  injury  will  be  accurately  reproduced 
upon  the  corresponding  part  of  the  medium's  body ; 
while  sometimes  food  of  which  the  spirit-form  has 
partaken  will  be  found  to  have  passed  into  the  body 


6o 

of  the  medium — at  least  that  happened  in  one  case 
at  any  rate  within  my  own  experience. 

It  would  be  far  otherwise,  however,  in  the  case 
which  we  have  been  describing.  Cyril  was  thou- 
sands of  miles  from  his  sleeping  physical  body,  and 
it  would  therefore  be  quite  impossible  for  his  friend 
to  draw  etheric  matter  from  it,  while  the  regulations 
under  which  all  pupils  of  the  great  Masters  of  Wis- 
dom perform  their  work  of  helping  man  would  as- 
suredly prevent  him,  even  fon  the  noblest  purpose, 
from  putting  such  a  strain  upon  any  one  else's  body. 
Besides,  it  would  be  quite  unnecessary,  for  the  far 
less  dangerous  method  invariably  employed  by  the 
helpers  when  materialization  seems  desirable  would 
be  ready  to  his  hand — the  condensation  from  the  cir- 
cumambient ether,  or  even  from  the  physical  air,  of 
such  an  amount  of  matter  as  may  be  requisite.  This 
feat,  though  no  doubt  beyond  the  power  of  the  aver- 
age entity  manifesting  at  a  seance,  presents  no  diffi- 
culty to  a  student  of  occult  chemistry. 

But  mark  the  difference  in  the  result  obtained. 
In  the  case  of  the  medium  we  have  a  materialized 
form  in  the  closest  possible  connection  with  the  phys- 
ical body,  made  out  of  its  very  substance,  and  there- 
fore capable  of  producing  all  the  phenomena  of  re- 
percussion. In  the  case  of  the  helper  we  have  indeed 
an  exact  reproduction  of  the  physical  body,  but  it  is 


6i 

created  by  a  mental  effort  out  of  matter  entirely  for- 
eign to  that  body,  and  is  no  more  capable  of  acting 
upon  it  by  repercussion  than  an  ordinary  marble 
statue  of  the  man  would  be. 

Thus  it  is  that  a  passage  through  the  flames  or 
a  fall  from  a  high  window-ledge  would  have  had  no 
terrors  for  the  boy-helper,  and  that  on  another  oc- 
casion a  member  of  the  band,  though  materialized, 
was  able  without  any  inconvenience  to  the  physical 
body  to  go  down  in  a  sinking  vessel  (see  p.  77). 

In  both  the  incidents  of  his  work  that  have  been 
described  above,  it  will  have  been  noticed  that  the 
boy  Cyril  was  unable  to  materialize  himself,  and 
that  the  operation  had  to  be  performed  for  him  by  an 
older  friend.  One  more  of  his  experiences  is  worth 
relating,  for  it  gives  us  a  case  in  which  by  intensity 
of  pity  and  determination  of  will  he  was  able  to  show 
himself — a  case  somewhat  parallel  to  that  previously 
related  of  the  mother  whose  love  enabled  her  some- 
how to  manifest  herself  in  order  to  save  her  chil- 
dren's lives. 

Inexplicable  as  it  may  seem,  there  is  no  doubt 
whatever  of  the  existence  in  nature  of  this  stupen- 
dous power  of  will  over  matter  of  all  planes,  so  that 
if  only  the  power  be  great  enough,  practically  any 
result  may  be  produced  by  its  direct  action,  without 
any  knowledge  or  even  thought  on  the  part  of  the 


62 

man  exercising  that  will  as  to  hozv  it  is  to  do  its  work. 
We  have  had  plenty  of  evidence  that  this  power  holds 
good  in  the  case  of  materialization,  although  ordi- 
narily it  is  an  art  which  must  be  learnt  just  like  any 
other.  Assuredly  an  average  man  on  the  astral  plane 
could  no  more  materialize  himself  without  having 
previously  learnt  how  to  do  it  than  the  average  man 
on  this  plane  could  play  the  violin  without  having 
previously  learnt  it ;  but  there  are  exceptional  cases, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  narrative. 


CHAPTER  X. 
The  Two  Brothers. 

This  story  has  been  told  by  a  pen  of  far  greater 
dramatic  capability  than  mine,  and  with  a  wealth  of 
detail  for  which  I  have  here  no  space,  in  The  Theo- 
sophical  Review  of  November,  1897,  p.  229.  To  that 
account  I  would  refer  the  reader,  since  my  own  de- 
scription of  the  case  will  be  a  mere  outline,  as  brief 
as  is  consistent  with  clearness.  The  names  given  are 
of  course  fictitious,  but  the  incidents  are  related  with 
scrupulous  accuracy. 

Our  dramatis  personae  are  two  brothers,  the  sons 
of  a  country  gentleman — Lancelot,  aged  fourteen, 
and  Walter,  aged  eleven — very  good  boys  of  the  or- 
dinary healthy,  manly  type,  like  hundreds  of  others 
in  this  fair  realm,  with  no  obvious  psychic  qualifica- 
tions of  any  sort,  except  the  possession  of  a  good 
deal  of  Celtic  blood.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
feature  about  them  was  the  intensity  of  the  affection 
that  existed  between  them,  for  they  were  simply  in- 
separable— neither  would  go  anywhere  without  the 

63 


64 

other,  and  the  younger  idolized  the  elder  as  only  a 
younger  boy  can. 

One  unlucky  day  Lancelot  was  thrown  from  his 
pony  and  killed,  and  for  Walter  the  world  became 
empty.  The  child's  grief  was  so  real  and  terrible 
that  he  could  neither  eat  nor  sleep,  and  his  mother 
and  nurse  were  at  their  wits'  end  as  to  what  to  do  for 
him.  He  seemed  deaf  alike  to  persuasion  and  blafrie  ; 
when  they  told  him  that  grief  was  wicked,  and  that 
his  brother  was  in  heaven,  he  simply  answered  that 
he  could  not  be  certain  of  that,  and  that  even  if  it 
were  true,  he  knew  that  Lancelot  could  no  more  be 
happy  in  heaven  without  him  than  he  could  on  earth 
without  Lancelot. 

Incredible  as  it  may  sound,  the  poor  child  was  ac- 
tually dying  of  grief,  and  what  made  the  case  even 
more  pathetic  was  the  fact  that,  all  unknown  to  him, 
his  brother  stood  at  his  side  all  the  time,  fully  con- 
scious of  his  misery,  and  himself  half-distracted  at 
the  failure  of  his  repeated  attempts  to  touch  him  or 
speak  to  him. 

Affairs  were  still  in  this  most  pitiable  condition 
on  the  third  evening  after  the  accident,  when  Cyril's 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  two  brothers — he  can- 
not tell  how.  "He  just  happened  to  be  passing,"  he 
says ;  yet  surely  the  will  of  the  Lords  of  Compassion 
guided  him  to  the  scene.    Poor  Walter  lay  exhausted 


6s 

yet  sleepless — alone  in  his  desolation,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  though  all  the  time  his  sorrowing  brother 
stood  beside  him.  Lancelot,  free  from  the  chains  of 
the  flesh,  could  see  and  hear  Cyril,  so  obviously  the 
first  thing  to  do  was  to  soothe  his  pain  with  a  prom- 
ise of  friendship  and  help  in  communicating  with  his 
brother. 

As  soon  as  the  dead  boy's  mind  was  thus  cheered 
with  hope,  Cyril  turned  to  the  living  one,  and  tried 
with  all  his  strength  to  impress  upon  his  brain  the 
knowledge  that  his  brother  stood  beside  him,  not 
dead,  but  living  and  loving  as  of  yore.  But  all  his 
efforts  were  in  vain ;  the  dull  apathy  of  grief  so  filled 
poor  Walter's  mind  that  no  suggestion  from  with- 
out could  enter,  and  Cyril  knew  not  what  to  do.  Yet 
so  deeply  was  he  moved  by  the  sad  sight,  so  intense 
was  his  sympathy  and  so  firm  his  determination  to 
help  in  some  way  or  other  at  any  cost  of  strength  to 
himself,  that  somehow  (even  to  this  day  he  cannot 
tell  how)  he  found  himself  able  to  touch  and  speak 
to  the  heart-broken  child. 

Putting  aside  Walter's  questions  as  to  who  he  was 
and  how  he  came  there,  he  went  straight  to  the  point, 
telling  him  that  his  brother  stood  beside  him,  trying 
hard  to  make  him  hear  his  constantly  repeated  as- 
surances that  he  was  not  dead,  but  living  and  yearn- 
ing to  help  and  comfort  him.    Little  Walter  longed 


66 

to  believe,  yet  hardly  dared  to  hope ;  but  Cyril's  eager 
insistance  vanquished  his  doubts  at  last,  and  he  said, 

"Oh !  I  do  believe  you,  because  you're  so  kind ;  but 
if  I  could  only  see  him,  then  I  should  know,  then  I 
should  be  quite  sure;  and  if  I  could  only  hear  his 
voice  telling  me  he  was  happy,  I  shouldn't  mind  a  bit 
his  going  away  again  afterwards." 

Young  though  he  was  at  the  work,  Cyril  knew 
enough  to  be  aware  that  Walter's  wish  was  one  not 
ordinarily  granted,  and  was  beginning  regretfully 
to  tell  him  so,  when  suddenly  he  felt  a  Presence  that 
all  the  helpers  know,  and  though  no  word  was  spoken 
it  was  borne  in  upon  his  mind  that  instead  of  what 
he  had  meant  to  say,  he  was  to  promise  Walter  the 
boon  his  heart  desired.  "Wait  till  I  come  back,"  he 
said,  "and  you  shall  see  him  then."  And  then — he 
vanished. 

That  one  touch  from  the  Master  had  shown  him 
what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  and  he  rushed  to  fetch 
the  older  friend  who  had  so  often  helped  him  before. 
This  older  man  had  not  yet  retired  for  the  night,  but 
on  hearing  Cyril's  hurried  summons,  he  lost  no  time 
in  accompanying  him,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they 
were  back  at  Walter's  bedside.  The  poor  child  was 
just  beginning  to  believe  it  all  a  lovely  dream,  and 
his  delight  and  relief  when  Cyril  reappeared  were 
beautiful  to  see.    Yet  how  much  more  beautiful  was 


67 

the  scene  a  moment  later,  when,  in  obedience  to  a 
word  from  the  Master,  the  elder  man  materialized 
the  eager  Lancelot,  and  the  living  and  the  dead  stood 
hand  in  hand  once  more ! 

Now  in  very  truth  for  both  the  brothers  had  sor- 
row been  turned  into  joy  unspeakable,  and  again  and 
again  they  both  declared  that  now  they  should  never 
feel  sad  any  more,  because  they  knew  that  death 
had  no  power  to  part  them.  Nor  was  their  gladness 
damped  even  when  Cyril  explained  carefully- to  them, 
at  his  older  friend's  suggestion,  that  this  strange 
physical  reunion  would  not  be  repeated,  but  that  all 
day  long  Lancelot  would  be  near  Walter,  even 
though  the  latter  could  not  see  him,  and  every  night 
Walter  would  slip  out  of  his  body  and  be  consciously 
with  his  brother  once  more. 

Hearing  this,  poor  weary  Walter  sank  to  sleep  at 
once  and  proved  its  truth,  and  was  amazed  to  find 
with  what  hitherto  unknown  rapidity  he  and  his 
brother  could  fly  together  from  one  to  another  of 
their  old  familiar  haunts.  Cyril  thoughtfully  warned 
him  that  he  would  probably  forget  most  of  his  freer 
life  when  he  awoke  next  day ;  but  by  rare  good  for- 
tune he  did  not  forget,  as  so  many  of  us  do.  Perhaps 
the  shock  of  the  great  joy  had  somewhat  aroused  the 
latent  psychic  faculty  which  belongs  to  the  Celtic 
blood;  at  any  rate  he  forgot  no  single  detail  of  all 


68 

that  had  happened,  and  next  morning  he  burst  upon 
the  house  of  mourning  with  a  wondrous  tale  which 
suited  it  but  ill. 

His  parents  thought  that  grief  had  turned  his 
brain,  and,  since  he  is  now  the  heir,  they  have  been 
watching  long  and  anxiously  for  further  symptoms 
of  insanity,  which  happily  they  have  not  found.  They 
still  think  him  a  monomaniac  on  this  point,  though 
they  fully  recognize  that  his  "delusion"  has  saved  his 
life;  but  his  old  nurse  (who  is  a  Catholic)  is  firm  in 
her  belief  that  all  he  says  is  true — that  the  Lord  Je- 
sus, who  was  once  a  child  himself,  took  pity  on  that 
other  child  as  he  lay  dying  of  grief,  and  sent  one  of 
His  angels  to  bring  his  brother  back  to  him  from  the 
dead  as  a  reward  for  a  love  which  was  stronger  than 
death.  Sometimes  popular  superstition  gets  a  good 
deal  nearer  to  the  heart  of  things  than  does  educated 
scepticism ! 

Nor  does  the  story  end  here,  for  the  good  work 
begun  that  night  is  still  progressing,  and  none  can 
say  how  far  the  influence  of  that  one  act  may  ramify. 
Walter's  astral  consciousness,  once  having  been 
thus  thoroughly  awakened,  remains  in  activity ;  every 
morning  he  brings  back  into  his  physical  brain  the 
memory  of  his  night's  adventures  with  his  brother ; 
every  night  they  meet  their  dear  friend  Cyril,  from 
whom  they  have  learned  so  much  about  the  wonder- 


69 

ful  new  world  that  has  opened  before  them,  and  the 
other  worlds  to  come  that  lie  higher  yet.  Under  Cyr- 
il's guidance  they  also — the  living  and  the  dead  alike 
— have  become  eager  and  earnest  members  of  the 
band  of  helpers;  and  probably  for  years  to  come — 
until  Lancelot's  vigorous  young  astral  body  disinte- 
grates— many  a  dying  child  will  have  cause  to  be 
grateful  to  these  three  who  are  trying  to  pass  on  to 
others  something  of  the  joy  that  they  have  them- 
selves received. 

Nor  is  it  to  the  dead  alone  that  these  new  converts 
have  been  of  use,  for  they  have  sought  and  found 
some  other  living  children  who  show  consciousness 
on  the  astral  plane  during  sleep ;  and  one  at  least  of 
those  whom  they  have  thus  brought  to  Cyril  has  al- 
ready proved  a  valuable  little  recruit  to  the  children's 
band,  as  well  as  a  very  kind  little  friend  down  here 
on  the  physical  plane. 

Those  to  whom  all  these  ideas  are  new  sometimes 
find  it  very  difficult  to  understand  how  children  can 
be  of  any  use  in  the  astral  world.  Seeing,  they  would 
say,  that  the  astral  body  of  a  child  must  be  undevel- 
oped, and  the  ego  thus  limited  by  childhood  on  the 
astral  as  well  as  the  physical  plane,  in  what  way  could 
such  an  ego  be  of  use,  or  be  able  to  help  towards  the 
spiritual,  mental  and  moral  evolution  of  humanity, 
which  we  are  told  is  the  chief  concern  of  the  helpers  ? 


70 

When  first  such  a  question  was  asked,  shortly  af- 
ter the  publication  of  one  of  these  stories  in  our  mag- 
azine, I  sent  it  to  Cyril  himself,  to  see  what  he  would 
say  to  it,  and  his  answer  was  this : 

"It  is  quite  true,  as  the  writer  says,  that  I  am  only 
a  boy,  and  know  very  little  yet,  and  that  I  shall  be 
much  more  useful  when  I  have  learnt  more.  But  I 
am  able  to  do  a  little  even  now,  because  there  are  so 
many  people  who  have  learnt  nothing  about  Theo- 
sophy  yet,  though  they  may  know  very  much  more 
than  I  do  about  everything  else.  And  you  see  when 
you  want  to  get  to  a  certain  place,  a  little  boy  who 
knows  the  way  can  do  more  for  you  than  a  hundred 
wise  men  who  don't  know  it." 

It  may  be  added  that  when  even  a  child  had  been 
awakened  upon  the  astral  plane  the  development  of 
the  astral  body  would  proceed  so  rapidly  that  he 
would  very  soon  be  in  a  position  upon  that  plane  but 
little  inferior  to  that  of  the  awakened  adult,  and 
would  of  course  be  much  in  advance,  so  far  as  useful- 
ness is  concerned,  of  the  wisest  man  who  was  as  yet 
unawakened.  But  unless  the  ego  expressing  himself 
through  that  child-body  possessed  the  necessary  qual- 
ification of  a  determined  yet  loving  disposition,  and 
had  clearly  manifested  it  in  his  previous  lives,  no 
occultist  would  take  the  very  serious  responsibility 
of  awakening  him  upon  the  astral  plane.  When,  how- 


ft 

ever,  their  karma  is  such  that  it  is  possible  for  them 
to  be  thus  aroused,  children  often  prove  most  efficient 
helpers,  and  throw  themselves  into  their  work  with  a 
whole-souled  devotion  which  is  very  beautiful  to  see. 
And  so  is  fulfilled  once  more  the  ancient  prophecy 
"a  little  child  shall  lead  them." 

Another  question  that  suggests  itself  to  one's  maid 
in  reading  this  last  story  of  the  two  brothers  is  this : 
Since  Cyril  was  somehow  able  to  materialize  himself 
by  sheer  force  of  love  and  pity  and  strength  of  will, 
is  it  not  strange  that  Lancelot,  who  had  been  trying 
so  much  longer  to  communicate,  had  not  succeeded 
in  doing  the  same  thing? 

Well,  there  is  of  course  no  difficulty  in  seeing  why 
poor  Lancelot  was  unable  to  communicate  with  his 
brother,  for  that  inability  is  simply  the  normal  con- 
dition of  affairs;  the  wonder  is  that  Cyril  was  able 
to  materialize  himself,  not  that  Lancelot  was  not. 
Not  only,  however,  was  the  feeling  probably  stronger 
in  Cyril's  case,  but  he  also  knew  exactly  what  he 
wanted  to  do — knew  that  such  a  thing  as  materializa- 
tion was  a  possibility,  and  had  some  general  idea  as 
to  how  it  was  done — while  Lancelot  naturally  knew 
nothing  of  all  this  then,  though  he  does  now. 


CHAPTER  XL 
Wrecks  and  Catastrophes. 

Sometimes  it  is  possible  for  members  of  the  band 
of  helpers  to  avert  impending  catastrophes  of  a  some- 
what larger  order.  In  more  than  one  case  when  the 
captain  of  a  vessel  has  been  carried  unsuspecting  far 
out  of  his  course  by  some  unknown  current  or 
through  some  mistaken  reckoning,  and  has  thereby 
run  into  serious  danger,  it  has  been  possible  to  pre- 
vent shipwreck  by  repeatedly  impressing  upon  his 
mind  a  feeling  that  something  was  wrong;  and  al- 
though this  generally  comes  through  into  the  cap- 
tain's brain  merely  as  a  vaguely  warning  intuition, 
yet  if  it  occurs  again  and  again  he  is  almost  certain 
to  give  it  some  attention  and  take  such  precautions 
as  suggest  themselves  to  him. 

In  one  case,  for  example,  in  which  the  master  of 
a  barque  was  much  nearer  in  to  the  land  than  he  sup- 
posed, he  was  again  and  again  pressed  to  heave  the 
lead,  and  though  he  resisted  this  suggestion  for  some 
time  as  being  unnecessary  and  absurd,  he  at  last  gave 
the  order  in  a  somewhat  hesitating  way.    The  result 


73 

astounded  him,  and  he  at  once  put  his  vessel  about 
and  stood  off  from  the  coast,  though  it  was  not  until 
morning  came  that  he  realized  how  very  close  he  had 
been  to  an  appalling  disaster. 

Often,  however,  a  catastrophe  is  karmic  in  its  na- 
ture, and  consequently  cannot  be  averted ;  but  it  must 
not  therefore  be  supposed  that  in  such  cases  no  help 
can  be  given.  It  may  be  that  the  people  concerned 
are  destined  to  die,  and  therefore  cannot  be  saved 
from  death;  but  in  many  cases  they  may  still  be 
to  some  extent  prepared  for  it,  and  may  certainly 
be  helped  upon  the  other  side  after  it  is  over.  In- 
deed, it  may  be  definitely  stated  that  wherever  a  great 
catastrophe  of  any  kind  takes  place,  there  is  also  a 
special  sending  of  help. 

Two  recent  cases  in  which  such  help  was  given 
were  the  sinking  of  the  Drummond  Castle  off  Cape 
1  Ushant,  and  the  terrible  cyclone  which  devastated  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  in  America.  On  both  these  occa- 
sions a  few  minutes'  notice  was  given,  and  the  help- 
ers did  their  best  to  calm  and  raise  men's  minds,  so 
that  when  the  shock  came  upon  them  it  would  be  less 
disturbing  than  it  might  otherwise  have  been.  Natu- 
rally, however,  the  greater  part  of  the  work  done 
with  the  victims  in  both  these  calamities  was  done 
upon  the  astral  plane  after  they  had  left  their  phys- 
ical bodies ;  but  of  this  we  shall  speak  later. 


74 

It  is  sad  to  relate  how  often  when  some  catastro- 
phe is  impending  the  helpers  are  hindered  in  their 
kindly  offices  by  wild  panic  among  those  whom  the 
danger  threatens — or  sometimes,  worse  still,  by  a 
mad  outburst  of  drunkenness  among  those  whom 
they  are  trying  to  assist.  Many  a  ship  has  gone  to 
her  doom  with  almost  every  soul  on  board  mad  with 
drink,  and  therefore  utterly  incapable  of  profiting 
by  any  assistance  offered  either  before  death  or  for 
a  very  long  time  afterwards. 

If  it  should  ever  happen  to  any  of  us  to  find  our- 
selves in  a  position  of  imminent  danger  which  we 
can  do  nothing  to  avert,  we  should  try  to  remember 
that  help  is  certainly  near  us,  and  that  it  rests  entirely 
with  ourselves  to  make  the  helper's  work  easy  or  dif- 
ficult. If  we  face  the  danger  calmly  and  bravely, 
recognizing  that  the  true  ego  can  in  no  way  be  af- 
fected by  it,  our  minds  will  then  be  open  to  receive 
the  guidance  which  the  helpers  are  trying  to  give, 
and  this  cannot  but  be  best  for  us,  whether  its  object 
be  to  save  us  from  death  or,  when  that  is  impossible, 
to  conduct  us  safely  through  it. 

Assistance  of  this  latter  kind  has  not  infrequently 
been  given  in  cases  of  accidents  to  individuals,  as  well 
as  of  more  general  catastrophes.  It  will  be  sufficient 
to  mention  one  example  as  an  illustration  of  what  is 
meant.    In  one  of  the  great  storms  which  did  so  much 


75 

damage  around  our  coasts  a  few  years  ago,  it  hap- 
pened that  a  fishing  boat  was  capsized  far  out  at  sea. 
The  only  people  on  board  were  an  old  fisherman  and 
a  boy,  and  the  former  contrived  to  cling  for  a  few 
minutes  to  the  overturned  boat.  There  was  no  phys- 
ical help  at  hand,  and  even  if  there  had  been  in  such 
a  raging  storm  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
anything  to  be  done,  so  that  the  fisherman  knew  well 
enough  that  there  was  no  hope  of  escape,  and  that 
death  could  only  be  a  question  of  a  few  moments. 
He  felt  great  terror  at  the  prospect,  being  especially 
impressed  by  the  awful  loneliness  of  that  vast  waste 
of  waters,  and  he  was  also  much  troubled  with 
thoughts  of  his  wife  and  family,  and  the  difficulties 
in  which  they  would  be  left  by  his  sudden  decease. 

A  passing  helper  seeing  all  this  endeavoured  to 
comfort  him,  but  finding  his  mind  too  much  dis- 
turbed to  be  impressionable,  she  thought  it  advisable 
to  show  herself  to  him  in  order  to  assist  him  the  bet- 
ter. In  relating  the  story  afterwards  she  said  that 
the  change  which  came  over  the  fisherman's  face  at 
sight  of  her  was  wonderful  and  beautiful  to  see ;  with 
the  shining  form  standing  upon  the  boat  above  him 
he  could  not  but  think  that  an  angel  had  been  sent  to 
comfort  him  in  his  trouble,  and  therefore  he  felt  that 
not  only  would  he  himself  be  carried  safely  through 
the  gates  of  death,  but  his  family  would  assuredly  be 


76 

looked  after  also.  So,  when  death  came  to  him  a  few 
moments  later,  he  was  in  a  frame  of  mind  very  differ- 
ent from  the  terror  and  preplexity  which  had  previ- 
ously overcome  him;  and  naturally  when  he  recov- 
ered consciousness  upon  the  astral  plane  and  found 
the  "angel"  still  beside  him  he  felt  himself  at  home 
with  her,  and  was  prepared  to  accept  her  advice  as 
regards  the  new  life  upon  which  he  had  entered. 

Some  time  later  the  same  helper  was  engaged  in 
another  piece  of  work  of  very  similar  character,  the 
story  of  which  she  has  since  told  as  follows : 

"You  remember  that  steamer  that  went  down  in 
the  cyclone  at  the  end  of  last  November;  I  betook 
myself  to  the  cabin  where  about  a  dozen  women  had 
been  shut  in,  and  found  them  wailing  in  the  most  pit- 
iful manner,  sobbing  and  moaning  with  fear.  The 
ship  had  to  founder — no  aid  was  possible — and  to 
go  out  of  the  world  in  this  state  of  frantic  terror  is 
the  worst  possible  way  to  enter  the  next.  So  in 
order  to  calm  them  I  materialized  myself,  and  of 
course  they  thought  I  was  an  angel,  poor  souls ;  they 
all  fell  on  (their  knees  and  prayed  me  to  save  them, 
and  one  poor  mother  pushed  her  baby  into  my  arms 
imploring  me  to  save  that  at  least.  They  soon  grew 
quiet  and  composed  as  we  talked,  and  the  wee  baby 
went  to  sleep  smiling,  and  presently  they  all  fell 
asleep   peacefully,    and    I   filled   their   minds   with 


77 

thoughts  of  the  heaven-world,  so  that  they  did  not 
wake  up  when  the  ship  made  her  final  plunge  down- 
wards. I  went  down  with  them  to  ensure  their  sleep- 
ing through  the  last  moments,  and  they  never  stirred 
as  their  sleep  became  death." 

Evidently  in  this  case,  too,  those  who  were  thus 
helped  had  not  only  the  enormous  advantage  of  be- 
ing enabled  to  meet  death  calmly  and  reasonably,  but 
also  the  still  greater  one  of  being  received  on  its  far- 
ther shore  by  one  whom  they  were  already  disposed 
to  love  and  trust — one  who  thoroughly  understood 
the  new  world  in  which  they  found  themselves,  and 
could  not  only  reassure  them  as  to  their  safety,  but 
advise  them  how  to  order  their  lives  under  these 
much  altered  circumstances.  And  this  brings  us  to 
the  consideration  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  im- 
portant departments  of  the  work  of  invisible  helpers 
— the  guidance  and  assistance  which  they  are  able  to 
give  to  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
Work  Among  the  Dead. 

It  is  one  of  the  many  evils  resulting  from  the  ab- 
surdly erroneous  teaching  as  to  conditions  after  death 
which  is  unfortunately  current  in  our  western  world, 
that  those  who  have  recently  shaken  off  this  mortal 
coil  are  usually  much  puzzled  and  often  very  seri- 
ously frightened  at  finding  everything  so  different 
from  what  their  religion  had  led  them  to  expect.  The 
mental  attitude  of  a  large  number  of  such  people  was 
pithily  voiced  the  other  day  by  an  English  general, 
who  three  days  after  his  death  met  one  of  the  band  of 
helpers  whom  he  had  known  in  physical  life.  After 
expressing  his  great  relief  that  he  had  at  last  found 
someone  with  whom  he  was  able  to  communicate,  his 
first  remark  was:  "But  if  I  am  dead,  where  am  I? 
For  if  this  is  heaven  I  don't  think  much  of  it;  and  if 
it  is  hell,  it  is  better  than  I  expected." 

But  unfortunately  a  far  greater  number  take  things 
less  philosophically.  They  have  been  taught  that  all 
men  are  destined  to  eternal  flames  except  a  favoured 
few  who  are  superhumanly  good;  and  since  a  very 

78 


79 

small  amount  of  self-examination  convinces  them 
that  they  do  not  belong  to  that  category,  they  are 
but  too  often  in  a  condition  of  panic  terror,  dreading 
every  moment  that  the  new  world  in  which  they  find 
themselves  may  dissolve  and  drop  them  into  the 
clutches  of  the  devil,  in  whom  they  have  been  sedu- 
lously taught  to  believe.  In  many  cases  they  spend 
long  periods  of  acute  mental  suffering  before  they 
can  free  themselves  from  the  fatal  influence  of  this 
blasphemous  doctrine  of  everlasting  punishment — 
before  they  can  realize  that  the  world  is  governed, 
not  according  to  the  caprice  of  a  hideous  demon  who 
gloats  over  human  anguish,  but  according  to  a  be- 
nevolent and  wonderfully  patient  law  of  evolution, 
which  is  absolutely  just  indeed,  but  yet  again  and 
again  offers  to  man  opportunities  of  progress,  if  he 
will  but  take  them,  at  every  stage  of  his  career. 

It  ought  in  fairness  to  be  mentioned  that  it  is  only 
among  what  are  called  protestant  communities  that 
this  terrible  evil  assumes  its  most  aggravated  form. 
The  great  Roman  Catholic  Church,  with  its  doc- 
trine of  purgatory,  approaches  much  more  nearly  to 
a  conception  of  the  astral  plane,  and  its  devout  mem- 
bers at  any  rate  realize  that  the  state  in  which  they 
find  themselves  shortly  after  death  is  merely  a  tem- 
porary one,  and  that  it  is  their  business  to  endeavour 
to  raise  themselves  out  of  it  as  soon  as  may  be  by 


8o 

intense  spiritual  aspiration,  while  they  accept  any  suf- 
fering which  may  come  to  them  as  necessary  for  the 
wearing  away  of  the  imperfections  in  their  char- 
acter before  they  can  pass  to  higher  and  brighter 
regions. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there  is  plenty  of  work 
for  the  helpers  to  do  among  the  newly  dead,  for  in 
the  vast  majority  of  cases  they  need  to  be  calmed  and 
reassured,  to  be  comforted  and  instructed.  In  the 
astral,  just  as  in  the  physical  world,  there  are  many 
who  are  but  little  disposed  to  take  advice  from  those 
who  know  better  than  they ;  yet  the  very  strangeness 
of  the  conditions  surrounding  them  renders  many  of 
the  dead  willing  to  accept  the  guidance  of  those  to 
whom  these  conditions  are  obviously  familiar;  and 
many  a  man's  stay  on  that  plane  has  been  consider- 
ably shortened  by  the  earnest  efforts  of  this  band  of 
energetic  workers. 

Not,  be  it  understood,  that  the  karma  of  the  dead 
man  can  in  any  way  be  interfered  with ;  he  has  built 
for  himself  during  life  an  astral  body  of  a  certain 
degree  of  density,  and  until  that  body  is  sufficiently 
dissolved  he  cannot  pass  on  into  the  heaven-world 
beyond ;  but  he  need  not  lengthen  the  period  neces- 
sary for  that  process  by  adopting  an  improper 
attitude. 

All  students  ought  clearly  to  grasp  the  truth  that 


8i 

the  length  of  a  man's  astral  life  after  he  has  put  off 
his  physical  body  depends  mainly  upon  two  factors — 
the  nature  of  his  past  physical  life,  and  his  attitude 
of  mind  after  what  we  call  death.  During  his  earth- 
life  he  is  constantly  influencing  the  building  of  mat- 
ter into  his  astral  body.  He  affects  it  directly  by  the 
passions,  emotions,  and  desires  which  he  allows  to 
hold  sway  over  him;  he  affects  it  indirectly  by  the 
action  upon  it  of  his  thoughts  from  above,  and  of 
the  details  of  his  physical  life — his  continence  or  his 
debauchery,  his  cleanliness  or  his  uncleanliness,  his 
food  and  his  drink — from  below. 

If  by  persistence  in  perversity  along  any  of  these 
lines  he  is  so  stupid  as  to  build  for  himself  a  coarse 
and  gross  astral  vehicle,  habituated  to  responding 
only  to  the  lower  vibrations  of  the  plane,  he  will 
find  himself  after  death  bound  to  that  plane  during 
and  long  and  slow  process  of  that  body's  disintegra- 
tion. On  the  other  hand  if  by  decent  and  careful 
living  he  gives  himself  a  vehicle  mainly  composed 
of  finer  material,  he  will  have  very  much  less  post- 
mortem trouble  and  discomfort,  and  his  evolution 
will  proceed  much  more  rapidly  and  easily. 

This  much  is  generally  understood,  but  the  second 
great  factor — his  attitude  of  mind  after  death — 
seems  often  to  be  forgotten.  The  desirable  thing  is 
for  him  to  realize  his  position  on  this  particular 


82 

little  arc  of  his  evolution — to  learn  that  he  is  at  this 
stage  withdrawing  steadily  inward  towards  the  plane 
of  the  true  ego,  and  that  consequently  it  is  his  busi- 
ness to  disengage  his  thoughts  as  far  as  may  be  from 
things  physical,  and  to  fix  his  attention  more  and 
more  upon  those  spiritual  matters  which  will  occupy 
him  during  his  life  in  the  heaven-world.  By  doing 
this  he  will  greatly  facilitate  the  natural  astral  disin- 
tegration, and  will  avoid  the  sadly  common  mistake 
of  unnecessarily  delaying  himself  upon  the  lower 
levels  of  what  should  be  so  temporary  a  residence. 

But  many  of  the  dead  very  considerably  retard 
the  process  of  dissolution  by  clinging  passionately  to 
the  earth  which  they  have  left ;  they  simply  will  not 
turn  their  thoughts  and  desires  upward,  but  spend 
their  time  in  struggling  with  all  their  might  to  keep 
in  full  touch  with  the  physical  plane,  thus  causing 
great  trouble  to  any  one  who  may  be  trying  to  help 
them.  Earthly  matters  are  the  only  ones  in  which 
they  have  ever  had  any  living  interest,  and  they  cling 
to  them  with  desperate  tenacity  even  after  death. 
Naturally  as  time  passes  on  they  find  it  increas- 
ingly difficult  to  keep  hold  of  things  down  here,  but 
instead  of  welcoming  and  encouraging  this  process 
of  gradual  refinement  and  spiritualization  they  resist 
it  vigorously  by  every  means  in  their  power. 

Of  course  the  mighty  force  of  evolution  is  event- 


83 

ually  too  strong  for  them,  and  they  are  swept  on 
in  its  beneficent  current,  yet  they  fight  every  step  of 
the  way,  thereby  not  only  causing  themselves  a  vast 
amount  of  entirely  unnecessary  pain  and  sorrow,  but 
also  very  seriously  delaying  their  upward  progress 
and  prolonging  their  stay  in  astral  regions  to  an 
almost  indefinite  extent.  In  convincing  them  that 
this  ignorant  and  disastrous  opposition  to  the  cosmic 
will  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  persuading 
them  to  adopt  an  attitude  of  mind  which  is  the  exact 
reversal  of  it,  lies  a  great  part  of  the  work  of  those 
who  are  trying  to  help. 

It  happens  occasionally  that  the  dead  are  earth- 
bound  by  anxiety — anxiety  sometimes  about  duties 
unperformed  or  debts  undischarged,  but  more  often 
on  account  of  wife  or  children  left  unprovided  for. 
In  such  cases  as  this  it  has  more  than  once  been  ne- 
cessary, before  the  dead  man  was  satisfied  to  pursue 
his  upward  path  in  peace,  that  the  helper  should  to 
some  extent  act  as  his  representative  upon  the 
physical  plane,  and  attend  on  his  behalf  to  the  settle- 
ment of  the  business  which  was  troubling  him.  An 
illustration  taken  from  our  recent  experience  will 
perhaps  make  this  clearer. 

One  of  the  band  of  pupils  was  trying  to  assist  a 
poor  man  who  had  died  in  one  of  our  western  cities, 
but  found  it  impossible  to  withdraw  his  mind  from 


84 

earthly  things  because  of  his  anxiety  about  two 
young  children  whom  his  death  had  left  without 
means  of  support.  He  had  been  a  working  man  of 
some  sort,  and  had  been  unable  to  lay  by  any  money 
for  them;  his  wife  had  died  some  two  years  previ- 
ously and  his  landlady,  though  exceedingly  kind- 
hearted  and  very  willing  to  do  anything  in  her  power 
for  them,  was  herself  far  too  poor  to  be  able  to  adopt 
them,  and  very  reluctantly  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  she  would  be  obliged  to  hand  them  over  to  the 
parish  authorities.  This  was  a  great  grief  to  the 
dead  father,  though  he  could  not  blame  the  landlady, 
and  was  himself  unable  to  suggest  any  other  course. 

Our  friend  asked  him  whether  he  had  no  relative 
to  whom  he  could  entrust  them,  but  the  father  knew 
of  none.  He  had  a  younger  brother,  he  said,  who 
would  certainly  have  done  something  for  him  in  this 
extremity,  but  he  had  lost  sight  of  him  for  fifteen 
years,  and  did  not  even  know  whether  he  was  living 
or  dead.  When  last  heard  of  he  had  been  appren- 
ticed to  a  carpenter  in  the  north,  and  he  was  then 
described  as  a  steady  young  fellow  who,  if  he  lived, 
would  surely  get  on. 

The  clues  at  hand  were  certainly  very  slight,  but 
since  there  seemed  no  other  prospect  of  help  for  the 
children,  our  friend  thought  it  worth  while  to  make 
a  special  effort  to  follow  them  up.     Taking  the  dead 


85 

man  with  him  he  commenced  a  patient  search  after 
the  brother  in  the  town  indicated ;  and  after  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  they  were  actually  successful  in 
finding  him.  He  was  now  a  master  carpenter  in  a 
fairly  flourishing  way  of  business — married,  but 
without  children  though  earnestly  desiring  them,  and 
therefore  apparently  just  the  man  for  the  emergency. 

The  question  now  was  how  the  information  could 
best  be  conveyed  to  this  brother.  Fortunately  he 
was  found  to  be  so  far  impressionable  that  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  brother's  death  and  the  destitu- 
tion of  his  children  could  be  put  vividly  before  him 
in  a  dream,  and  this  was  repeated  three  times,  the 
place  and  even  the  name  of  the  landlady  being  clearly 
indicated  to  him.  He  was  immensely  impressed  by 
this  recurring  vision,  and  discussed  it  earnestly  with 
his  wife,  who  advised  him  to  write  to  the  address 
given.  This  he  did  not  like  to  do,  but  was  strongly 
inclined  to  travel  down  into  the  west  country,  find 
out  whether  there  was  such  a  house  as  that  which 
he  had  seen,  and  if  so  make  some  excuse  to  call  there. 
He  was  a  busy  man,  however,  and  he  finally  decided 
that  he  could  not  afford  to  lose  a  day's  work  for 
what  after  all  might  well  prove  to  be  nothing  but 
the  baseless  fabric  of  a  dream. 

The  attempt  along  these  lines  having  apparently 
failed,  it  was  determined  to  try  another  method,  so  . 


86 

one  of  the  helpers  wrote  a  letter  to  the  man  detailing 
the  circumstances  of  his  brother's  death  and  the 
position  of  the  children,  exactly  as  he  had  seen  them 
in  his  dream.  On  receipt  of  this  confirmation  he 
no  longer  hesitated,  but  set  off  the  very  next  day 
for  the  town  indicated,  and  was  received  with  open 
arms  by  the  kind-hearted  landlady.  It  had  been 
easy  enough  for  the  helpers  to  persuade  her,  good 
soul  that  she  was,  to  keep  the  children  with  her  for 
a  few  days  on  the  chance  that  something  or  other 
would  turn  up  for  them,  and  she  has  ever  since 
congratulated  herself  that  she  did  so.  The  carpen- 
ter of  course  took  the  children  back  with  him  and 
provided  them  with  a  happy  home,  and  the  dead 
father,  now  no  longer  anxious,  passed  rejoicing  on 
his  upward  way. 

Since  some  Theosophical  writers  have  felt  it  their 
duty  to  insist  in  vigorous  terms  upon  the  evils  so 
frequently  attendant  upon  the  holding  of  spiritual- 
istic stances,  it  is  only  fair  to  admit  that  on  several 
occasions  good  work  similar  to  that  of  the  helper 
in  the  case  just  described  has  been  done  through 
the  agency  of  a  medium  or  of  some  one  present  at 
a  circle.  Thus,  though  spiritualism  has  too  often 
detained  souls  who  but  for  it  would  have  attained 
speedier  liberation,  it  must  be  set  to  the  credit  of  its 
account  that  it  has  also  furnished  the  means  of 


87 

escape  to  others,  and  thus  opened  up  the  path  of 
advancement  for  them.  There  have  been  instances 
in  which  the  defunct  has  been  able  to  appear  unas- 
sisted to  his  relatives  or  friends  and  explain  his 
wishes  to  them;  but  these  are  naturally  rare,  and 
most  souls  who  are  earth-bound  by  anxieties  of  the 
kind  indicated  can  satisfy  themselves  only  by  means 
of  the  services  of  the  medium  or  the  conscious 
helper. 

Another  case  very  frequently  encountered  on  the 
astral  plane  is  that  of  the  man  who  cannot  believe 
that  he  is  dead  at  all.  Indeed,  most  people  consider 
the  very  fact  that  they  are  still  conscious  to  be  an 
absolute  proof  that  they  have  not  passed  through 
the  portals  of  death;  somewhat  of  a  satire  this,  if 
one  thinks  of  it,  on  the  practical  value  of  our  much- 
vaunted  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul !  How- 
ever they  may  have  labelled  themselves  during  life, 
the  great  majority  of  those  who  die,  in  this  country 
at  any  rate,  show  themselves  by  their  subsequent 
attitude  to  have  been  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
materialists  at  heart;  and  those  who  on  earth  have 
honestly  called  themselves  so  are  often  no  more 
difficult  to  deal  with  than  others  who  would  have 
been  shocked  at  the  very  name. 

A  very  recent  instance  was  that  of  a  scientific  man 
who,  finding  himself  fully  conscious,  and  yet  under 


88 

conditions  differing  radically  from  any  that  he  had 
ever  experienced  before,  had  persuaded  himself  that 
he  was  still  alive,  and  merely  the  victim  of  a  pro- 
longed and  unpleasant  dream.  Fortunately  for  him 
there  happened  to  be  among  the  band  of  those  able  to 
function  upon  the  astral  plane  a  son  of  an  old  friend 
of  his,  a  young  man  whose  father  had  commissioned 
him  to  search  for  the  departed  scientist  and  endeav- 
our to  render  him  some  assistance.  When  after  some 
trouble  the  youth  found  and  accosted  him,  he  frankly 
admitted  that  he  was  in  a  condition  of  great  bewil- 
derment and  discomfort,  but  still  clung  desperately 
to  his  dream  hypothesis  as  on  the  whole  the  most 
probable  explanation  of  what  he  saw,  and  even  went 
so  far  as  to  suggest  that  his  visitor  was  nothing  but 
a  dream-figure  himself! 

At  last,  however,  he  so  far  gave  way  as  to  propose 
a  kind  of  test,  and  said  to  the  young  man,  "If  you 
are,  as  you  assert,  a  living  person,  and  the  son  of 
my  old  friend,  bring  me  from  him  some  message 
that  shall  prove  to  me  your  objective  reality.,,  Now 
although  under  all  ordinary  conditions  of  the  phys- 
ical plane  the  giving  of  any  kind  of  phenomenal 
proof  is  strictly  forbidden  to  the  pupils  of  the 
Masters,  it  seemed  as  though  a  case  of  this  kind 
hardly  came  under  the  rules ;  and  therefore,  when 
it  had  been  ascertained  that  there  was  no  objection 


89 

on  the  part  of  higher  authorities,  an  application  was 
made  to  the  father,  who  at  once  sent  a  message  re- 
ferring to  a  series  of  events  which  had  occurred 
before  the  son's  birth.  This  convinced  the  dead 
man  of  the  real  existence  of  his  young  friend,  and 
therefore  of  the  plane  upon  which  they  were  both 
functioning;  and  as  soon  as  he  felt  this  established, 
his  scientific  training  at  once  reasserted  itself,  and 
he  became  exceeding  eager  to  acquire  all  possible 
information  about  this  new  region. 

Of  course  the  message  which  he  so  readily  ac- 
cepted as  evidence  was  in  reality  no  proof  at  all, 
since  the  facts  to  which  it  referred  might  have  been 
read  from  his  own  mind  or  from  the  records  of  the 
past  by  any  creature  possessed  of  astral  senses !  But 
his  ignorance  of  these  possibilities  enabled  this  defi- 
nite impression  to  be  made  upon  him,  and  the  Theo- 
sophical  instruction  which  his  young  friend  is  now 
nightly  giving  to  him  will  undoubtedly  have  a  stu- 
pendous effect  upon  his  future,  for  it  cannot  but 
greatly  modify  not  only  the  heaven-state  which  lies 
immediately  before  him,  but  also  his  next  incarna- 
tion upon  earth. 

The  main  work,  then,  done  for  the  newly  dead 
by  our  helpers  is  that  of  soothing  and  comforting 
them — of  delivering  them  when  possible  from  the 
terrible  though  unreasoning  fear  which  but  too  often 


9o 

seizes  them,  and  not  only  causes  them  much  unne- 
cessary suffering,  but  retards  their  progress  to  higher 
spheres — and  of  enabling  them  as  far  as  may  be  to 
comprehend  the  future  that  lies  before  them. 

Others  who  have  been  longer  on  the  astral  plane 
may  also  receive  much  help,  if  they  will  but  accept 
it,  from  explanations  and  advice  as  to  their  course 
through  its  different  stages.  They  may,  for  exam- 
ple, be  warned  of  the  danger  and  delay  caused  by 
attempting  to  communicate  with  the  living  through 
a  medium,  and  sometimes  (though  rarely)  an  entity 
already  drawn  into  a  spiritualistic  circle  may  be 
guided  into  higher  and  healthier  life.  Teaching 
thus  given  to  persons  on  this  plane  is  by  no  means 
lost,  for  though  the  memory  of  it  cannot  of  course 
be  directly  carried  over  to  the  next  incarnation,  there 
always  remains  the  real  inner  knowledge,  and  there- 
fore the  strong  predisposition  to  accept  it  immedi- 
ately when  heard  again  in  the  new  life. 

A  rather  remarkable  instance  of  service  rendered 
to  the  dead  was  the  first  achievement  of  a  very  recent 
recruit  to  the  band  of  helpers — one  who  is  hardly  as 
yet  a  fully-fledged  member.  This  young  aspirant 
had  not  long  before  lost  an  aged  relation,  for  whom 
he  had  felt  an  especially  warm  affection;  and  his 
earliest  request  was  to  be  taken  by  a  more  exper- 
ienced friend  to  visit  her  in  the  hope  that  he  might 


9i 

be  of  some  service  to  her.  This  was  done  and  the 
effect  of  the  meeting  of  the  living  and  the  dead  was 
very  beautiful  and  touching.  The  older  person's 
astral  life  was  already  approaching  its  end,  but  a  con- 
dition of  apathy,  dullness  and  uncertainty  prevented 
her  from  making  any  immediate  progress. 

But  when  the  boy,  who  had  been  so  much  to  her  in 
earth-life,  stood  once  more  before  her  and  dissolved 
by  the  sunlight  of  his  love  the  grey  mist  of  depression 
which  had  gathered  around  her,  she  was  aroused 
from  her  stupor;  and  soon  she  understood  that  he 
had  come  in  order  to  explain  to  her  her  situation, 
and  to  tell  her  of  the  glories  of  the  higher  life  toward 
which  her  thoughts  and  aspirations  ought  now  to  be 
directed.  But  when  this  was  fully  realized,  there  was 
such  an  awakening  of  dormant  feeling  in  her  and 
such  an  outrush  of  devoted  affection  towards  her 
earnest  young  helper,  that  the  last  fetters  which 
bound  her  to  the  astral  life  were  broken,  and  that 
one  great  outburst  of  love  and  gratitude  swept  her 
forthwith  into  the  higher  consciousness  of  the  heav- 
en-world. Truly  there  is  no  greater  and  more  bene- 
ficent power  in  the  universe  than  that  of  pure,  unself- 
ish love. 


/ 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
Other  Branches  of  the  Work. 

But  turning  back  again  now  from  the  all-impor- 
tant work  among  the  dead  to  the  consideration  of 
the  work  among  the  living,  we  must  briefly  indi- 
cate a  great  branch  of  it,  without  a  notice  of  which 
our  account  of  the  labours  of  our  invisible  helpers 
would  indeed  be  incomplete,  and  that  is  the  immense 
amount  which  is  done  by  suggestion — by  simply 
putting  good  thoughts  into  the  minds  of  those  who 
are  ready  to  receive  them. 

Let  there  be  no  mistake  as  to  what  is  meant  here. 
It  would  be  perfectly  easy — easy  to  a  degree  which 
would  be  quite  incredible  to  those  who  do  not  under- 
stand the  subject  practically — for  a  helper  to  dom- 
inate the  mind  of  any  average  man,  and  make  him 
think  just  as  he  pleased,  and  that  without  arousing 
the  faintest  suspicion  of  any  outside  influence  in 
the  mind  of  the  subject.  But,  however  admirable 
the  result  might  be,  such  a  proceeding  would  be 
entirely  inadmissible.  All  that  may  be  done  is  to 
throw  the  good  thought  into  the  person's  mind  as 

92 


93 

one  among  the  hundreds  that  are  constantly  sweep- 
ing through  it ;  whether  the  man  takes  it  up,  makes 
it  his  own,  and  acts  upon  it,  depends  upon  himself 
entirely.  Were  it  otherwise,  it  is  obvious  that  all 
the  good  karma  of  the  action  would  accrue  to  the 
helper  only,  for  the  subject  would  have  been  a  mere 
tool,  and  not  an  actor — which  is  not  what  is  desired. 

The  assistance  given  in  this  way  is  exceedingly 
varied  in  character.  The  consolation  of  those  who 
are  suffering  or  in  sorrow  at  once  suggests  itself, 
as  does  also  the  endeavour  to  guide  toward  the  truth 
those  who  are  earnestly  seeking  it.  When  a  person 
is  spending  much  anxious  thought  upon  some  spir- 
itual or  metaphysical  problem,  it  is  often  possible 
to  put  the  solution  into  his  mind  without  his  being 
at  all  aware  that  it  comes  from  external  agency. 

A  pupil  too  may  often  be  employed  as  an  agent 
in  what  can  hardly  be  described  otherwise  than  as 
the  answering  of  prayer ;  for  though  it  is  true  that 
any  earnest  spiritual  desire,  such  as  might  be  sup- 
posed to  find  its  expression  in  pAyer,  is  itself  a  force 
which  automatically  brings  about  certain  results, 
it  is  also  a  fact  that  such  a  spiritual  effort  offers  an 
opportunity  of  influence  to  the  Powers  of  Good,  of 
which  they  are  not  slow  to  take  advantage ;  and  it  is 
sometimes  the  privilege  of  a  willing  helper  to  be 
made  the  channel  through  which  their  energy  is 


94 

poured  forth.  What  is  said  of  prayers  is  true  to 
an  even  greater  extent  of  meditation,  for  those  to 
whom  this  higher  exercise  is  a  possibility. 

Besides  these  more  general  methods  of  help  there 
are  also  special  lines  open  only  to  the  few.  Again 
and  again  such  pupils  as  are  fitted  for  the  work  have 
been  employed  to  suggest  true  and  beautiful  thoughts 
to  authors,  poets,  artists  and  musicians;  but  obvi- 
ously it  is  not  every  helper  who  is  capable  of  being 
used  in  this  way. 

Sometimes,  though  more  rarely,  it  is  possible  to 
warn  persons  of  the  danger  to  their  moral  develop- 
ment of  some  course  which  they  are  pursuing,  to 
clear  away  evil  influences  from  about  some  person  or 
place,  or  to  counteract  the  machinations  of  black 
magicians.  It  is  not  often  that  direct  instruction  in 
the  great  truths  of  nature  can  be  given  to  people  out- 
side the  circle  of  occult  students,  but  occasionally 
it  is  possible  to  do  something  in  that  way  by  putting 
before  the  minds  of  preachers  and  teachers  a  wider 
range  of  thought  or  a  more  liberal  view  of  some 
question  than  they  would  otherwise  have  taken. 

Naturally  as  an  occult  student  progresses  on  the 
Path  he  attains  a  wider  sphere  of  usefulness.  In- 
stead of  assisting  individuals  only,  he  learns  how 
classes,  nations  and  races  are  dealt  with,  and  he  is 
entrusted  with  a  gradually  increasing  share  of  the 


95 

higher  and  more  important  work  done  by  the  adepts 
themselves.  As  he  acquires  the  requisite  power  and 
knowledge  he  begins  to  wield  the  greater  forces  of 
the  mental  and  the  astral  planes  and  is  shown  how 
to  make  the  utmost  possible  use  of  each  favourable 
cyclic  influence.  He  is  brought  into  relation  with 
those  great  Nirmanakayas  who  are  sometimes  sym- 
bolized as  the  Stones  of  the  Guardian  Wall,  and  he 
becomes — at  first  of  course  in  the  very  humblest 
capacity — one  of  the  band  of  their  almoners,  and 
learns  how  those  forces  are  dispersed  which  are  the 
fruit  of  their  sublime  self-sacrifice.  Thus  he  rises 
gradually  higher  and  higher  until,  blossoming  at 
length  into  adeptship,  he  is  able  to  take  his  full  share 
of  the  responsibility  which  lies  upon  the  Masters 
of  Wisdom,  and  to  help  others  along  the  road  which 
he  has  trodden. 

On  the  mental  plane  the  work  differs  some- 
what, since  teaching  can  be  both  given  and  received 
in  a  much  more  direct,  rapid  and  perfect  manner, 
while  the  influences  set  in  motion  are  infinitely  more 
powerful,  because  acting  on  so  much  higher  a  level. 
But  (though  it  is  useless  to  speak  of  it  in  detail  at 
present,  since  so  few  of  us  are  yet  able  to  function 
consciously  upon  this  plane  during  life)  here  also — 
and  even  higher  still — there  is  always  plenty  of  work 
to  be  done,  as  soon  as  ever  we  can  make  ourselves 


96 

capable  of  doing  it;  and  there  is  certainly  no  fear 
that  for  countless  aeons  we  shall  ever  find  ourselves 
without  a  career  of  unselfish  usefulness  open  be- 
fore us. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Qualifications  Required. 

How,  it  may  be  asked,  are  we  to  make  ourselves 
capable  of  sharing  in  this  great  work  ?  Well,  there 
is  no  mystery  as  to  the  qualifications  which  are 
needed  by  one  who  aspires  to  be  a  helper;  the  dif- 
ficulty is  not  in  learning  what  they  are,  but  in  devel- 
oping them  in  oneself.  To  some  extent  they  have 
been  already  incidentally  described,  but  it  is  never- 
theless as  well  that  they  should  be  set  out  fully  and 
categorically. 

i.  Single-mindedness.  The  first  requisite  is  that 
we  shall  have  recognized  the  great  work  which  the 
Masters  would  have  us  do,  and  that  it  shall  be  for 
us  the  one  great  interest  of  our  lives.  We  must 
learn  to  distinguish  not  only  between  useful  and 
useless  work,  but  between  the  different  kinds  of  use- 
ful work,  so  that  we  may  each  devote  ourselves  to 
the  very  highest  of  which  we  are  capable,  and  not 
fritter  away  our  time  in  labouring  at  something 
which,  however  good  it  may  be  for  the  man  who  can- 
not yet  do  anything  better,  is  unworthy  of  the  know- 

97 


98 

ledge  and  capacity  which  should  be  ours  as  Theo- 
sophists.  A  man  who  wishes  to  be  considered  eligi- 
ble for  employment  on  higher  planes  must  begin  by 
doing  the  utmost  that  lies  in  his  power  in  the  way  of 
definite  work  for  Theosophy  down  here. 

Of  course  I  do  not  for  a  moment  mean  that  we 
are  to  neglect  the  ordinary  duties  of  life.  We  should 
certainly  do  well  to  undertake  no  new  worldly  duties 
of  any  sort,  but  those  which  we  have  already  bound 
upon  our  shoulders  have  become  a  karmic  obliga- 
tion which  we  have  no  right  to  neglect.  Unless  we 
have  done  to  the  full  the  duties  which  karma  has 
laid  upon  us  we  are  not  free  for  the  higher  work. 
But  this  higher  work  must  nevertheless  be  to  us  the 
one  thing  really  worth  living  for — the  constant  back- 
ground of  a  life  which  is  consecrated  to  the  service 
of  the  Masters  of  Compassion. 

2.  Perfect  self-control.  Before  we  can  be  safely 
trusted  with  the  wider  powers  of  the  astral  life,  we 
must  have  ourselves  perfectly  in  hand.  Our  temper, 
for  example,  must  be  thoroughly  under  control,  so 
that  nothing  that  we  may  see  or  hear  can  cause  real 
irritation  in  us,  for  the  consequences  of  such  irrita- 
tion would  be  far  more  serious  on  that  plane  than 
on  this.  The  force  of  thought  is  always  an  enor- 
mous power,  but  down  here  it  is  reduced  and  dead- 
ened by  the  heavy  physical  brain-particles  which 


99 

it  has  to  set  in  motion.  In  the  astral  world  it  is  far 
freer  and  more  potent,  and  for  a  man  with  fully- 
awakened  faculty  to  feel  anger  against  a  person  there 
would  be  to  do  him  serious  and  perhaps  even  fatal 
injury. 

Not  only  do  we  need  control  of  temper,  but  con- 
trol of  nerve,  so  that  none  of  the  fantastic  or  terrible 
sights  that  we  may  encounter  may  be  able  to  shake 
our  dauntless  courage.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  pupil  who  awakens  a  man  upon  the  astral  plane 
incurs  thereby  a  certain  amount  of  responsibility  for 
his  actions  and  for  his  safety,  so  that  unless  his 
neophyte  had  courage  to  stand  alone  the  whole  of 
the  older  worker's  time  would  be  wasted  in  hovering 
round  to  protect  him,  which  it  would  be  manifestly 
unreasonable  to  expect. 

It  is  to  make  sure  of  this  control  of  nerve,  and  to 
fit  them  for  the  work  that  has  to  be  done,  that  candi- 
dates are  always  made,  now  as  in  days  of  old,  to 
pass  what  are  called  the  tests  of  earth,  water,  air  and 
fire. 

In  other  words,  they  have  to  learn  with  that  abso- 
lute certainty  that  comes  not  by  theory,  but  by  prac- 
tical experience,  that  in  their  astral  bodies  none  of 
these  elements  can  by  any  possibility  be  hurtful  to 
them — that  none  can  oppose  any  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  the  work  which  they  have  to  do. 


100 

In  this  physical  body  we  are  fully  convinced  that 
fire  will  burn  us,  that  water  will  drown  us,  that  the 
solid  rock  forms  an  impassable  barrier  to  our  pro- 
gress, that  we  cannot  with  safety  launch  ourselves 
unsupported  into  the  ambient  air.  So  deeply  is  this 
conviction  engrained  in  us  that  it  costs  most  men 
a  good  deal  of  effort  to  overcome  the  instinctive 
action  which  follows  from  it,  and  to  realize  that  in 
the  astral  body  the  densest  rock  offers  no  impedi- 
ment to  their  freedom  of  motion,  that  they  may  leap 
with  impunity  from  the  highest  cliff,  and  plunge 
with  the  most  absolute  confidence  into  the  heart  of 
the  raging  volcano  or  the  deepest  abysses  of  the 
fathomless  ocean. 

Yet  until  a  man  knows  this — knows  it  sufficiently 
to  act  upon  his  knowledge  instinctively  and  confi- 
dently— he  is  comparatively  useless  for  astral  work, 
since  in  emergencies  that  are  constantly  arising  he 
would  be  perpetually  paralyzed  by  imaginary  disa- 
bilities. So  he  has  to  go  through  his  tests,  and 
through  many  another  strange  experience — to  meet 
face  to  face  with  calm  courage  the  most  terrifying 
apparitions  amid  the  most  loathsome  surroundings 
— to  show  in  fact  that  his  nerve  may  be  thoroughly 
trusted  under  any  and  all  of  the  varied  groups  of 
circumstances  in  which  he  may  at  any  moment  find 
himself. 


IOI 

Further,  we  need  control  of  mind  and  of  desire; 
of  mind,  because  without  the  power  of  concentration 
it  would  be  impossible  to  do  good  work  amid  all 
the  distracting  currents  of  the  astral  plane;  of  de- 
sire, because  in  that  strange  world  to  desire  is  very 
often  to  have,  and  unless  this  part  of  our  nature 
were  well  controlled  we  might  perchance  find  our- 
selves face  to  face  with  creations  of  our  own  of 
which  we  should  be  heartily  ashamed. 

3.  Calmness.  This  is  another  most  important 
point — the  absence  of  all  worry  and  depression. 
Much  of  the  work  consists  in  soothing  those  who 
are  disturbed,  and  cheering  those  who  are  in  sor- 
row ;  and  how  can  a  helper  do  that  work  if  his  own 
aura  is  vibrating  with  constant  fuss  and  worry,  or 
grey  with  the  deadly  gloom  that  comes  from  per- 
petual depression?  Nothing  is  more  hopelessly 
fatal  to  occult  progress  or  usefulness  than  our  nine- 
teenth century  habit  of  ceaselessly  worrying  over 
trifles— of  eternally  making  mountains  out  of  mole- 
hills. Many  of  us  simply  spend  our  lives  in  magni- 
fying the  most  absurd  trivialities — in  solemnly  and 
elaborately  going  to  work  to  make  ourselves  miser- 
able about  nothing. 

Surely  we  who  are  Theosophists  ought,  at  any 
rate,  to  have  got  beyond  this  stage  of  irrational 
worry  and  causeless  depression ;  surely  we,  who  are 


102 

trying  to  acquire  some  definite  knowledge  of  the 
cosmic  order,  ought  by  this  time  to  have  realized 
that  the  optimistic  view  of  everything  is  always 
nearest  to  the  divine  view,  and  therefore  to  the 
truth,  because  only  that  in  any  person  which  is  good 
and  beautiful  can  by  any  possibility  be  permanent, 
while  the  evil  must  by  its  very  nature  be  temporary. 
In  fact,  as  Browning  said,  "the  evil  is  null,  is  naught, 
is  silence  implying  sound,"  while  above  and  beyond 
it  all  "the  soul  of  things  is  sweet,  the  Heart  of  Being 
is  celestial  rest."  So  They  who  know  maintain 
unruffled  calm,  and  with  Their  perfect  sympathy 
combine  the  joyous  serenity  which  comes  from  the 
certainty  that  all  will  at  last  be  well ;  and  those  who 
wish  to  help  must  learn  to  follow  Their  example. 

4.  Knowledge.  To  be  of  use  the  man  must  at 
least  have  some  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  plane 
on  which  he  has  to  work,  and  the  more  knowledge 
he  has  in  any  and  every  direction  the  more  useful 
he  will  be.  He  must  fit  himself  for  this  task  by 
carefully  studying  Theosophical  literature;  for 
he  cannot  expect  those  whose  time  is  already  so 
fully  occupied  to  waste  some  of  it  in  explaining  to 
him  what  he  might  have  learnt  down  here  by  taking 
the  trouble  to  read  the  books.  No  one  who  is  not 
already  as  earnest  a  student  as  his  capacities  and 


103 

opportunities  permit,  need  begin  to  think  of  himself 
as  a  candidate  for  astral  work. 

5.  Unselfishness.  It  would  seem  scarcely  need- 
ful to  insist  upon  this  as  a  qualification,  for  surely 
everyone  who  has  made  the  least  study  of  Theosophy 
must  know  that  while  the  slightest  taint  of  selfishness 
remains  in  a  man,  he  is  not  yet  fit  to  be  entrusted 
with  higher  powers,  not  yet  fit  to  enter  upon  a  work 
of  whose  very  essence  it  is  that  the  worker  should 
forget  himself  but  to  remember  the  good  of  others. 
He  who  is  still  capable  of  selfish  thought,  whose  per- 
sonality is  still  so  strong  in  him  that  he  can  allow 
himself  to  be  turned  aside  from  his  work  by  feelings 
of  petty  pride  or  suggestions  of  wounded  dignity — 
that  man  is  not  yet  ready  to  show  the  selfless  devo- 
tion of  the  helper. 

6.  Love.  This,  the  last  and  greatest  of  the  quali- 
fications, is  also  the  most  misunderstood.  Most 
emphatically  it  is  not  the  cheap,  namby-pamby 
backboneless  sentimentalism  which  is  always  over- 
flowing into  vague  platitudes  and  gushing  gener- 
alities, yet  fears  to  stand  firm  for  the  right  lest  it 
should  be  branded  by  the  ignorant  as  "unbrotherly." 
What  i3  wanted  is  the  love  which  is  strong  enough 
not  to  boast  itself,  but  to  act  without  talking  about 
it— the  intense  desire  for  service  which  is  ever  on 
the  watch  for  an  opportunity  to  render  it,  even 


104 

though  it  prefers  to  do  so  anonymously — the  feeling 
which  springs  up  in  the  heart  of  him  who  has 
realized  the  great  work  of  the  Logos,  and,  having 
once  seen  it,  knows  that  for  him  there  can  be  in  the 
three  worlds  no  other  course  but  to  identify  him- 
self with  it  to  the  utmost  limit  of  his  power — to 
become,  in  however  humble  a  way,  and  at  however 
great  a  distance,  a  tiny  channel  of  that  wondrous 
love  of  God  which,  like  the  peace  of  God,  passeth 
man's  understanding. 

These  are  the  qualities  toward  the  possession  of 
which  the  helper  must  ceaselessly  strive,  and  of 
which  some  considerable  measure  at  least  must  be 
his  before  he  can  hope  that  the  Great  Ones  who 
stand  behind  will  deem  him  fit  for  full  awakening. 
The  ideal  is  in  truth  a  high  one,  yet  none  need 
therefore  turn  away  disheartened,  nor  think  that 
while  he  is  still  but  struggling  toward  it  he  must 
necessarily  remain  entirely  useless  on  the  astral 
plane,  for  short  of  the  responsibilities  and  dangers 
of  that  full  awakening  there  is  much  that  may  safely 
and  usefully  be  done. 

There  is  hardly  one  among  us  who  would  not 
be  capable  of  performing  at  least  one  definite  act 
of  mercy  and  good  will  each  night  while  we  are 
away  from  our  bodies.  Our  condition  when  asleep 
is  usually  one  of  absorption  in  thought,  be  it  remem- 


bered — a  carrying  on  of  the  thoughts  that  have 
principally  occupied  us  during  the  day,  and  especially 
of  the  last  thought  in  the  mind  when  sinking  into 
sleep.  Now  if  we  make  that  last  thought  a  strong 
intention  to  go  and  give  help  to  some  one  whom 
we  know  to  be  in  need  of  it,  the  soul  when  freed 
from  the  body  will  undoubtedly  carry  out  that  inten- 
tion, and  the  help  will  be  given.  There  are  several 
cases  on  record  in  which,  when  this  attempt  has  been 
made,  the  person  thought  of  has  been  fully  con- 
scious of  the  effort  of  the  would-be  helper,  and  has 
even  seen  his  astral  body  in  the  act  of  carrying  out 
the  instructions  impressed  upon  it. 

Indeed,  no  one  need  sadden  himself  with  the 
thought  that  he  can  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  this 
glorious  work.  Such  a  feeling  would  be  entirely 
untrue,  for  every  one  who  can  think  can  help.  ,  Nor 
need  such  useful  action  be  confined  to  our  hours  of 
sleep.  If  you  know  (and  who  does  not?)  of  some 
one  who  is  in  sorrow  or  suffering,  though  you  may 
not  be  able  consciously  to  stand  in  astral  form  by 
their  bedside,  you  can  nevertheless  send  them  lov- 
ing thoughts  and  earnest  good  wishes;  and  be  well 
assured  that  such  thoughts  and  wishes  are  real  and 
living  and  strong — that  when  you  so  send  them 
they  do  actually  go  and  work  your  will  in  propor- 
tion to  the  strength  which  you  have  put  into  them. 


io6 

Thoughts  are  things,  intensely  real  things,  visible 
enough  to  those  whose  eyes  have  been  opened  to 
see,  and  by  their  means  the  poorest  man  may  bear 
his  part  in  the  good  work  of  the  world  as  fully  as 
the  richest.  In  this  way  at  least,  whether  we  can 
yet  function  consciously  upon  the  astral  plane  or 
not,  we  all  can  join,  and  we  all  ought  to  join,  the 
army  of  invisible  helpers. 

But  the  aspirant,  who  definitely  desires  to  become 
one  of  the  band  of  astral  helpers  who  are  working 
under  the  direction  of  the  great  Masters  of  Wisdom, 
will  make  his  preparation  part  of  a  far  wider  scheme 
of  development.  Instead  of  merely  endeavouring  to 
fit  himself  for  this  particular  branch  of  their  service, 
he  will  undertake  with  high  resolution  the  far  greater 
task  of  training  himself  to  follow  in  their  foot- 
steps, of  bending  all  the  energies  of  his  soul  to 
attain  even  as  they  have  attained,  so  that  his  power 
of  helping  the  world  may  not  be  confined  to  the 
astral  plane,  but  may  extend  to  those  higher  levels 
which  are  the  true  home  of  the  divine  self  of  man. 

For  him  the  path  has  been  marked  out  long  ago 
by  the  wisdom  of  those  who  have  trodden  it  in 
days  of  old — a  path  of  self -development  which 
sooner  or  later  all  must  follow,  whether  they  choose 
to  adopt  it  of  their  own  free  will,  or  to  wait  until, 
after  many  lives  and  an  infinity  of  suffering,  the 


107 

slow,  resistless  force  of  evolution  drives  them  along 
it  among  the  laggards  of  the  human  family.  But 
the  wise  man  is  he  who  eagerly  enters  upon  it  imme- 
diately, setting  his  face  resolutely  toward  the  goal 
of  adeptship,  in  order  that,  being  safe  for  ever  from 
all  doubt  and  fear  and  sorrow  himself,  he  may  help 
others  into  safety  and  happiness  also.  What  are  the 
steps  of  this  Path  of  Holiness,  as  the  Buddhists  call 
it,  and  in  what  order  they  are  arranged,  let  us  see 
in  our  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Probationary  Path. 

Eastern  books  tell  us  that  there  are  four  means 
by  which  a  man  may  be  brought  to  the  beginning 
of  the  path  of  spiritual  advancement:  I.  By  the 
companionship  of  those  who  have  already  entered 
upon  it.  2.  By  the  hearing  or  reading  of  definite 
teaching  on  occult  philosophy.  3.  By  enlightened 
reflection ;  that  is  to  say,  that  by  sheer  force  of  hard 
thinking  and  close  reasoning  he  may  arrive  at  the 
truth,  or  some  portion  of  it,  for  himself.  4.  By  the 
practice  of  virtue,  which  means  that  a  long  series 
of  virtuous  lives,  though  it  does  not  necessarily  in- 
volve any  increase  of  intellectuality,  does  eventually 
develope  in  a  man  sufficient  intuition  to  enable  him  to 
grasp  the  necessity  of  entering  upon  the  path,  and 
show  him  in  what  direction  it  lies. 

When,  by  one  or  another  of  these  means,  he  has 
arrived  at  this  point,  the  way  to  the  highest  adept- 
ship  lies  straight  before  him,  if  he  chooses  to  take 
it.  In  writing  for  students  of  occultism  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  at  our  present  stage  of  develop- 

108 


109 

ment  we  cannot  expect  to  learn  all,  or  nearly  all, 
about  any  but  the  lowest  steps  of  this  path;  whilst 
of  the  highest  we  know  little  but  the  names,  though 
we  may  get  occasional  glimpses  of  the  indescribable 
glory  which  surrounds  them. 

According  to  the  esoteric  teachings  these  steps  are 
grouped  in  three  great  divisions : 

i.  The  probationary  period,  before  any  definite 
pledges  are  taken,  or  initiations  (in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word)  are  given.  This  carries  a  man  to  the 
level  necessary  to  pass  successfully  through  what  in 
Theosophical  books  is  usually  called  the  critical 
period  of  the  fifth  round. 

2.  The  period  of  pledged  discipleship,  or  the  path 
proper,  whose  four  stages  are  often  spoken  of  in 
Oriental  books  as  the  four  paths  of  holiness.  At 
the  end  of  this  the  pupil  obtains  adeptship — the  level 
which  humanity  should  reach  at  the  close  of  the 
seventh  round. 

3.  What  we  may  venture  to  call  the  official  period, 
in  which  the  adept  takes  a  definite  part  (under  the 
great  Cosmic  Law)  in  the  government  of  the  world, 
and  holds  a  special  office  connected  therewith.  Of 
course  every  adept — every  pupil  even,  when  once 
definitely  accepted,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  earlier 
chapters — takes  a  part  in  the  great  work  of  helping 
forward  the  evolution  of  man;  but  those  standing  on 


no 

the  higher  levels  take  charge  of  special  departments, 
and  correspond  in  the  cosmic  scheme  to  the  ministers 
of  the  crown  in  a  well-ordered  earthly  state.  It 
is  not  proposed  to  make  any  attempt  in  this  book  to 
treat  of  this  official  period;  no  information  about 
it  has  ever  been  made  public,  and  the  whole  subject 
is  too  far  above  our  comprehension  to  be  profitably 
dealt  with  in  print.  We  will  confine  ourselves  there- 
fore to  the  two  earlier  divisions. 

Before  going  into  details  of  the  probationary 
period  it  is  well  to  mention  that  in  most  of  the 
Eastern  sacred  books  this  stage  is  regarded  as 
merely  preliminary,  and  scarcely  as  part  of  the  path 
at  all,  for  they  consider  that  the  latter  is  really 
entered  upon  only  when  definite  pledges  have  been 
given.  Considerable  confusion  has  been  created  by 
the  fact  that  the  numbering  of  the  stages  occasionally 
commences  at  this  point,  though  more  often  at  the 
beginning  of  the  second  great  division;  sometimes 
the  stages  themselves  are  counted,  and  sometimes  the 
initiations  leading  into  or  out  of  them,  so  that  in 
studying  the  books  one  has  to  be  perpetually  on  one's 
guard  to  avoid  misunderstanding. 

This  probationary  period,  however,  differs  con- 
siderably in  character  from  the  others ;  the  divisions 
between  its  stages  are  less  decidedly  marked  than 
are  those  of  the  higher  groups,  and  the  requirements 


Ill 

are  not  so  definite  or  so  exacting.  But  it  will  be 
easier  to  explain  this  last  point  after  giving  a  list 
of  the  five  stages  of  this  period,  with  their  respec- 
tive qualifications.  The  first  four  were  very  ably- 
described  by  Mr.  Mohini  Mohun  Chatter ji  in  the 
first  Transaction  of  the  London  Lodge,  to  which 
readers  may  be  referred  for  fuller  definitions  of 
them  than  can  be  given  here.  Much  exceedingly 
valuable  information  about  them  is  also  given  by 
Mrs.  Besant  in  her  books  The  Path  of  Discipleship 
and  In  the  Outer  Court. 

The  names  given  to  the  stages  will  differ  some- 
what, for  in  those  books  the  Hindu  Sanskrit  ter- 
minology was  employed,  whereas  the  Pali  nomen- 
clature used  here  is  that  of  the  Buddhist  system; 
but  although  the  subject  is  thus  approached  from 
a  different  side,  as  it  were,  the  qualifications  exacted 
will  be  found  to  be  precisely  the  same  in  effect  even 
when  the  outward  form  varies.  In  the  case  of  each 
word  the  mere  dictionary  meaning  will  first  be  given 
in  parentheses,  and  the  explanation  of  it  which  is 
usually  given  by  the  teacher  will  follow.  The  first 
stage,  then,  is  called  among  Buddhists. 

I.  Manodvaravajjana  (the  opening  of  the  doors 
of  the  mind,  or  perhaps  escaping  by  the  door  of  the 
mind) — and  in  it  the  candidate  acquires  a  firm  intel- 
lectual conviction  of  the  impermanence  and  worth- 


112 

lessness  of  mere  earthly  aims.  This  is  often  described 
as  learning  the  difference  between  the  real  and  the 
unreal ;  and  to  learn  it  often  takes  a  long  time  and 
many  hard  lessons.  Yet  it  is  obvious  that  it  must 
be  the  first  step  toward  anything  like  real  progress, 
for  no  man  can  enter  whole-heartedly  upon  the  path 
until  he  has  definitely  decided  to  "set  his  affection 
upon  things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth,"  and 
that  decision  comes  from  the  certainty  that  nothing 
on  earth  has  any  value  as  compared  with  the  higher 
life.  This  step  is  called  by  the  Hindus  the  acquire- 
ment of  Viveka  or  discrimination,  and  Mr.  Sinnett 
speaks  of  it  as  the  giving  allegiance  to  the  higher 
self. 

2.  Parikamma  (preparation  for  action) — the 
stage  in  which  the  candidate  learns  to  do  the  right 
merely  because  it  is  right,  without  considering  his 
own  gain  or  loss  either  in  this  world  or  the  future, 
and  acquires,  as  the  Eastern  books  put  it,  perfect 
indifference  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruit  of  his 
own  actions.  This  indifference  is  the  natural  result 
of  the  previous  step ;  for  when  the  neophyte  has  once 
grasped  the  unreal  and  impermanent  character  of 
all  earthly  rewards,  he  ceases  to  crave  for  them; 
when  once  the  radiance  of  the  real  has  shone  upon 
the  soul,  nothing  below  that  can  any  longer  be  an 


H3 

object  of  desire.  This  higher  indifference  is  called 
by  the  Hindus  Vairagya. 

3.  Upacharo  (attention  or  conduct) — the  stage 
in  which  what  are  called  "the  six  qualifications,,  (the 
Shatsampatti  of  the  Hindus)  must  be  acquired. 
These  are  called  in  Pali : 

(a)  Samo  (quietude) — that  purity  and  calmness 
of  thought  which  cames  from  perfect  control  of  the 
mind — a  qualification  exceedingly  difficult  of  attain- 
ment, and  yet  most  necessary,  for  unless  the  mind 
moves  only  in  obedience  to  the  guidance  of  the  will 
it  cannot  be  a  perfect  instrument  for  the  Master's 
work  in  the  future.  This  qualification  is  a  very 
comprehensive  one,  ind  includes  within  itself  both 
the  self-control  and  the  calmness  which  were  de- 
scribed in  chapter  xiv.  as  necessary  for  astral  work. 

(6)  Damo  (subjugation) — a  similar  mastery 
over,  and  therefore  purity  in,  one's  actions  and  words 
— a  quality  which  again  follows  necessarily  from  its 
predecessor. 

(c)  Uparati  (cessation) — explained  as  cessation 
from  bigotry  or  from  belief  in  the  necessity  of  any 
act  or  ceremony  prescribed  by  a  particular  religion 
— so  leading  the  aspirant  to  independence  of  thought 
and  to  a  wide  and  generous  tolerence. 

(d)  Titikkha  (endurance  or  forbearance) — by 
which  is  meant  the  readiness  to  bear  with  cheerful- 


114 

ness  whatever  one's  karma  may  bring  upon  one,  and 
to  part  with  anything  and  everything  worldly  when- 
ever it  may  be  necessary.  It  also  includes  the  idea 
of  complete  absence  of  resentment  for  wrong,  the 
man  knowing  that  those  who  do  him  wrong  are  but 
the  instruments  of  his  own  karma. 

(  e)  Samadhana  ( intentness  )  — one-pointedness 
involving  the  incapability  of  being  turned  aside  from 
one's  path  by  temptation.  This  corresponds  very 
closely  with  the  single-mindness  spoken  of  in  the 
previous  chapter. 

(/)  Saddha  (faith) — confidence  in  one's  Master 
and  oneself:  confidence,  that  is,  that  the  Master  is 
a  competent  teacher,  and  that,  however  diffident  the 
pupil  may  feel  as  to  his  own  powers,  he  has  yet 
within  him  that  divine  spark  which  when  fanned  into 
a  flame  will  one  day  enable  him  to  achieve  even  as 
his  Master  has  done. 

4.  Anuloma  (direct  order  or  succession,  signify- 
ing that  its  attainment  follows  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence from  the  other  three) — the  stage  in  which 
is  acquired  that  intense  desire  for  liberation  from 
earthly  life,  and  for  union  with  the  highest,  which 
is  called  by  the  Hindus  Mumukshatva. 

5.  Gotrabhu  (the  condition  of  fitness  for  initia- 
tion) ;  in  this  stage  the  candidate  gathers  up,  as  it 
were,  his  previous  acquisitions,  and  strengthens  them 


H5 

to  the  degree  necessary  for  the  next  great  step,  which 
will  set  his  feet  upon  the  path  proper  as  an  accepted 
pupil.  The  attainment  of  this  level  is  followed  very 
rapidly  by  initiation  into  the  next  grade.  In  answer 
to  the  question,  "Who  is  the  Gotrabhu?"  Buddha 
says,  "The  man  who  is  in  possession  of  those  con- 
ditions upon  which  the  commencement  of  sanctifi- 
cation  immediately  ensues — he  is  the  Gotrabhu." 

The  wisdom  necessary  for  the  reception  of  the 
path  of  holiness  is  called  Gotrabhu-gnana. 

Now  that  we  have  hastily  glanced  at  the  steps  of 
the  probationary  period,  we  must  emphasize  the  point 
to  which  reference  was  made  at  the  commence- 
ment— that  the  perfect  attainment  of  these  accom- 
plishments and  qualifications  is  not  expected  at  this 
early  stage.  As  Mr.  Mohini  says,  "If  all  these  are 
equally  strong,  adeptship  is  attained  in  the  same 
incarnation.,,  But  such  a  result  is  of  course  ex- 
tremely rare.  It  is  in  the  direction  of  these  acquire- 
ments that  the  candidate  must  easelessly  strive,  but 
it  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  no  one  has  been 
admitted  to  the  next  step  without  possessing  all  of 
them  in  the  fullest  possible  degree.  Nor  do  they 
necessarily  follow  one  another  in  the  same  definite 
order  as  the  later  steps;  in  fact,  in  many  cases  a 
man  would  be  developing  the  various  qualifications 


n6 

all  at  the  same  time — rather  side  by  side  than  in  reg- 
ular succession. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  man  might  easily  be  working 
along  a  great  part  of  this  path  even  though  he  was 
quite  unaware  of  its  very  existence,  and  no  doubt 
many  a  good  Christian,  many  an  earnest  freethinker 
is  already  far  on  the  road  that  will  eventually  lead 
him  to  initiation,  though  he  may  never  have  heard 
the  word  occultism  in  his  life.  I  mention  these 
two  classes  especially,  because  in  every  other  religion 
occult  development  is  recognized  as  a  possibility, 
and  would  certainly  therefore  be  intentionally 
sought  by  those  who  felt  yearnings  for  something 
more  satisfactory  than  the  exoteric  faiths. 

We  must  also  note  that  the  steps  of  this  proba- 
tionary period  are  not  separated  by  initiations  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word,  though  they  will  cer- 
tainly be  studded  with  tests  and  trials  of  all  sorts 
and  on  all  planes,  and  may  be  relieved  by  encourag- 
ing experiences,  and  by  hints  and  help  whenever 
these  may  safely  be  given.  We  are  apt  sometimes 
to  use  the  word  initiation  somewhat  loosely,  as  for 
example  when  it  is  applied  to  such  tests  as  have  just 
been  mentioned ;  properly  speaking  it  refers  only  to 
the  solemn  ceremony  at  which  a  pupil  is  formally 
admitted  to  a  higher  grade  by  an  appointed  official, 
who  in  the  name  of  the  One  Initiator  receives  his 


ii7 

plighted  vow,  and  puts  into  his  hands  the  new  key 
of  knowledge  which  he  is  to  use  on  the  level  to  which 
he  has  now  attained.  Such  an  initiation  is  taken  at 
the  entrance  to  the  division  which  we  shall  next  con- 
sider, and  also  at  each  passage  from  any  one  of  its 
steps  to  the  next. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Path  Proper. 

It  is  in  the  four  stages  of  this  division  of  the  path 
that  the  ten  Samyojana,  or  fetters  which  bind  man 
to  the  circle  of  rebirth  and  hold  him  back  from 
Nirvana,  must  be  cast  off.  And  here  comes  the 
difference  between  this  period  of  pledged  disciple- 
ship  and  the  previous  probation.  No  partial  suc- 
cess in  getting  rid  of  these  fetters  is  sufficient  now ; 
before  a  candidate  can  pass  on  from  one  of  the  steps 
to  the  next  he  must  be  entirely  free  from  certain 
of  these  clogs ;  and  when  they  are  enumerated  it  will 
be  seen  how  far-reaching  this  requirement  is,  and 
there  will  be  little  cause  to  wonder  at  the  statement 
made  in  the  sacred  books  that  seven  incarnations  are 
sometimes  required  to  pass  through  this  division  of 
the  path. 

Each  of  these  four  steps  or  stages  is  again  divided 
into  four  :  for  each  has  ( i )  its  Maggo,  or  way,  dur- 
ing which  the  student  is  striving  to  cast  off  the  fet- 
ters; (2)  its  Phala  (result  or  fruit)  when  he  finds 
the  results  of  his  action  in  so  doing  showing  them- 

11* 


ii9 

selves  more  and  more;  (3)  its  Bhavagga  or  con- 
summation, the  period  when,  the  result  having  cul- 
minated, he  is  able  to  fufil  satisfactorily  the  work 
belonging  to  the  step  on  which  he  now  firmly  stands ; 
and  (4)  its  Gotrabhu,  meaning,  as  before,  the  time 
when  he  arrives  at  a  fit  state  to  receive  the  next  initi- 
ation.    The  first  stage  is : 

I.  Sotapatti  or  Sohan.  The  pupil  who  has  at- 
tained this  level  is  spoken  of  as  the  Sowani  or  Sota- 
panna — "he  who  has  entered  the  stream," — because 
from  this  period,  though  he  may  linger,  though  he 
may  succumb  to  more  refined  temptations  and  turn 
aside  from  his  course  for  a  time,  he  can  no  longer 
fall  back  altogether  from  spirituality  and  become 
a  mere  worldling.  He  has  entered  upon  the  stream 
of  definite  higher  human  evolution,  upon  which  all 
humanity  must  enter  by  the  middle  of  the  next 
round,  unless  they  are  to  be  left  behind  as  temporary 
failures  by  the  great  life-wave,  to  wait  for  further 
progress  until  the  next  chain  of  worlds. 

The  pupil  who  is  able  to  take  this  initiation  has 
therefore  already  outstripped  the  majority  of  human- 
ity to  the  extent  of  an  entire  round  of  all  our  seven 
planets,  and  in  doing  so  has  definitely  secured  him- 
self against  the  possibility  of  falling  out  of  the 
stream  in  the  fifth  round.  He  is  consequently  some- 
times spoken  of  as  "the  saved"  or  "the  safe  one." 


120 

It  is  from  a  misunderstanding  of  this  idea  that  there 
arises  the  curious  theory  of  salvation  promulgated 
by  a  certain  section  of  the  Christian  community. 
The  "aeonian  salvation"  of  which  some  of  its  docu- 
ments speak  is  not,  as  has  been  blasphemously  sup- 
posed by  the  ignorant,  from  eternal  torture,  but  sim- 
ply from  wasting  the  rest  of  this  seon  or  dispensation 
by  falling  out  of  its  line  of  progress.  This  also  is 
the  meaning,  naturally,  of  the  celebrated  clause  in 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  "Whosoever  will  be  saved, 
before  all  things  it  is  necessary  that  he  hold  the 
catholic  faith"  (See  The  Christian  Creed,  p.  91). 
The  fetters  which  he  must  cast  off  before  he  can  pass 
into  the  next  stage  are : 

1.  Sakkayaditthi — the  delusion  of  self. 

2.  Vichikichchha — <loubt  or  uncertainty. 

3.  Silabbataparamasa — superstition. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  "I  am  I"  consciousness, 
which  as  connected  with  the  personality  is  nothing 
but  an  illusion,  and  must  be  got  rid  of  at  the  very 
first  step  of  the  real  upward  path.  But  to  cast  off 
this  fetter  completely  means  even  more  than  this, 
for  it  involves  the  realization  of  the  fact  that  the 
individuality  also  is  in  very  truth  one  with  the  All, 
that  it  can  therefore  never  have  any  interests  opposed 
to  those  of  its  brethren,  and  that  it  is  most  truly  pro- 
gressing when  it  most  assists  the  progress  of  others. 


121 

For  the  very  sign  and  seal  of  the  attainment  of 
the  Sotapatti  level  is  the  first  entrance  of  the  pupil 
into  the  plane  next  above  the  mental — that  which 
we  usually  call  the  buddhic.  It  may  be — nay,  it 
will  be — the  merest  touch  of  the  lowest  sub-plane  of 
that  stupendously  exalted  condition  that  the  pupil 
can  as  yet  experience,  even  with  his  Master's  help; 
but  even  that  touch  is  something  that  can  never  be 
forgotten — something  that  opens  a  new  world  before 
him,  and  entirely  revolutionizes  his  feelings  and  con- 
ceptions. Then  for  the  first  time,  by  means  of  the 
extended  consciousness  of  that  plane,  he  truly  real- 
izes the  underlying  unity  of  all,  not  as  an  intellectual 
conception  merely,  but  as  a  definite  fact  that  is  patent 
to  his  opened  eyes ;  then  first  he  really  knows  some- 
thing of  the  world  in  which  he  lives — then  first  he 
gets  some  slight  glimpse  of  what  the  love  and  com- 
passion of  the  great  Masters  must  be. 

As  to  the  second  letter,  a  word  of  caution  is  ne- 
cessary. We  who  have  been  trained  in  European 
habits  of  thought  are  unhappily  so  familiar  with  the 
idea  that  a  blind  unreasoning  adhesion  to  certain 
dogmas  may  be  claimed  from  a  disciple,  that  on 
hearing  that  occultism  considers  doubt  as  an  obstacle 
to  progress,  we  are  likely  to  suppose  that  it  also  re- 
requires  the  same  unquestioning  faith  from  its  fol- 


122 

lowers  as  modern  superstitions  do.  No  idea  could 
be  more  entirely  false. 

It  is  true  that  doubt  (or  rather  uncertainty)  on 
certain  questions  is  a  bar  to  spiritual  progress,  but 
the  antidote  to  that  doubt  is  not  blind  faith  (which 
is  itself  considered  as  a  fetter,  as  will  presently  be 
seen)  but  the  certainty  of  conviction  founded  on 
individual  experiment  or  mathematical  reasoning. 
While  a  child  doubted  the  accuracy  of  the  multipli- 
cation table  he  would  hardly  acquire  proficiency  in 
the  higher  mathematics;  but  his  doubts  could  be 
satisfactorily  cleared  up  only  by  his  attaining  a  com- 
prehension, founded  on  reasoning  or  experiment, 
that  the  statements  contained  in  the  table  are  true. 
He  believes  that  twice  two  are  four,  not  merely 
because  he  has  been  told  so,  but  because  it  has  become 
to  him  a  self-evident  fact.  And  this  is  exactly  the 
method,  and  the  only  method,  of  resolving  doubt 
known  to  occultism. 

Vichikichchha  has  been  defined  as  doubt  of  the 
doctrines  of  karma  and  reincarnation,  and  of  the 
efficacy  of  the  method  of  attaining  the  highest  good 
by  this  path  of  holiness ;  and  the  casting  off  of  this 
Samyojana  is  the  arriving  at  absolute  certainty,  based 
either  upon  personal  first-hand  knowledge  or  upon 
reason,  that  the  occult  teaching  upon  these  points  is 
true. 


123 

The  third  fetter  to  be  got  rid  of  comprehends  all 
kinds  of  unreasoning  or  mistaken  belief,  all  depend- 
ence on  the  efficacy  of  outward  rites  and  ceremonies 
to  purify  the  heart.  He  who  would  cast  it  off  must 
learn  to  depend  upon  himself  alone,  not  upon  others, 
nor  upon  the  outer  husk  of  any  religion. 

The  first  three  fetters  are  in  a  coherent  series. 
The  difference  between  individuality  and  personality 
being  fully  realized,  it  is  then  possible  to  some  extent 
to  appreciate  the  actual  course  of  reincarnation,  and 
so  as  to  dispel  all  doubt  on  that  head.  This  done,  the 
knowledge  of  the  spiritual  permanence  of  the  true 
ego  gives  rise  to  reliance  on  one's  own  spiritual 
strength,  and  so  dispels  superstition. 

II.  Sakadagami.  The  pupil  who  has  entered 
upon  this  second  stage  is  spoken  of  as  a  Sakrida- 
gamin — "the  man  who  returns  but  once'' — signify- 
ing that  a  man  who  has  reached  this  level  should  need 
but  one  more  incarnation  before  attaining  arahat- 
ship.  At  this  step  no  additional  fetters  are  cast  off, 
but  the  pupil  is  occupied  in  reducing  to  a  minimum 
those  which  still  enchain  him.  It  is,  however,  usu- 
ally a  period  of  considerable  psychic  and  intellectual 
advancement. 

If  what  are  commonly  called  psychic  faculties  have 
not  been  previously  acquired,  they  must  be  developed 
at  this  stage,  as  without  them  it  would  be  impossible 


124 

to  assimilate  the  knowledge  which  must  now  be 
given,  or  to  do  the  higher  work  for  humanity  in 
which  the  pupil  is  now  privileged  to  assist.  He  must 
have  the  astral  consciousness  at  his  command  during 
his  physical  waking  life,  and  during  sleep  the  heaven- 
world  will  be  open  before  him — for  the  consciousness 
of  a  man  when  away  from  his  physical  body  is 
always  one  stage  higher  than  it  is  while  he  is  still 
burdened  with  the  house  of  flesh. 

III.  Anagami.  The  Anagamin  (he  who  does  not 
return)  is  so  called  because,  having  reached  this 
stage,  he  ought  to  be  able  to  attain  the  next  one  in 
the  life  he  is  then  living.  He  enjoys,  while  moving 
through  the  round  of  his  daily  work,  all  the  splen- 
did possibilities  of  progress  given  by  the  full  pos- 
session of  the  priceless  faculties  of  the  heaven-world, 
and  when  he  leaves  his  physical  vehicle  at  night  he 
enters  once  more  into  the  wonderfully-widened  con- 
sciousness that  belongs  to  the  buddhi.  In  this  step 
he  finally  gets  rid  of  any  lingering  remains  of  the 
two  fetters  of 

4.  Kamaraga — attachment  to  the  enjoyment  of 
sensation,  typified  by  earthly  love,  and 

5.  Patigha — all  possibility  of  anger  or  hatred. 
The  student  who  has  cast  off  these  fetters  can  no 

longer  be  swayed  by  the  influence  of  his  senses  either 
in  the  direction  of  love  or  hatred,  and  is  free  from 


either  attachment  to  or  impatience  of  physical  plane 
conditions. 

Here  again  we  must  guard  against  a  possible  mis- 
conception— one  with  which  we  frequently  meet. 
The  purest  and  noblest  human  love  never  dies  away 
— is  never  in  any  way  diminished  by  occult  training; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  increased  and  widened  until  it 
embraces  all  with  the  same  fervor  which  at  first 
was  lavished  on  one  or  two.  But  the  student  does 
in  time  rise  above  all  considerations  connected  with 
the  mere  personality  of  those  around  him,  and  so  is 
free  from  all  the  injustice  and  partiality  which  or- 
dinary love  so  often  brings  in  its  train. 

Nor  should  it  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that  in 
gaining  this  wide  affection  for  all  he  loses  the 
especial  love  for  his  closer  friends.  The  unusually 
perfect  link  between  Ananda  and  the  Buddha,  as 
between  S.  John  and  Jesus,  is  on  record  to  prove 
that  on  the  contrary  this  is  enormously  intensified; 
and  the  tie  between  a  Master  and  his  pupils  is 
stronger  far  than  any  earthly  bond.  For  the  affec- 
tion which  flourishes  upon  the  path  of  holiness  is  an 
affection  between  egos,  and  not  merely  between  per- 
sonalities ;  therefore  it  is  strong  and  permanent,  with- 
out fear  of  diminution  or  fluctuation,  for  it  is  that 
"perfect  love  which  casteth  out  fear." 

IV.  Arahat    (the   venerable,   the   perfect).     On 


126 

attaining  this  level  the  aspirant  constantly  enjoys 
the  consciousness  of  the  buddhic  plane,  and  is  able 
to  use  its  powers  and  faculties  while  still  in  the 
physical  body ;  and  when  he  leaves  that  body  in  sleep 
or  trance  he  passes  at  once  into  the  unutterable  glory 
of  the  nirvanic  plane.  In  this  stage  the  occultist 
must  cast  off  the  last  remnants  of  the  five  remaining 
fetters,  which  are : 

6.  Ruparaga — desire  for  beauty  of  form  or  for 
physical  existence  in  a  form,  even  including  that  in 
the  heaven-world. 

7.  Aruparaga — desire  for  formless  life. 

8.  Mano — pride. 

9.  Uddhachcha — agitation  or  irritability. 

10.  Avijja — ignorance. 

On  this  we  may  remark  that  the  casting  off  of 
Ruparaga  involves  not  only  getting  rid  of  desire  for 
earthly  life,  however  grand  or  noble  that  life  may 
be,  and  astral  or  devachanic  life,  however  glorious, 
but  also  of  all  liability  to  be  unduly  influenced  or 
repelled  by  the  external  beauty  or  ugliness  of  any 
person  or  thing. 

Aruparaga — desire  for  life  either  in  the  highest 
and  formless  planes  of  the  heaven-world  or  in  the 
still  more  exalted  buddhic  plane — would  be  merely 
a  higher  and  less  sensual  form  of  selfishness,  and 
must  be  cast  off  just  as  much  as  the  lower.  Uddha- 


127 

chcfta  really  means  "liability  to  be  disturbed  in 
mind,"  and  a  man  who  had  finally  cast  off  this  fetter 
would  be  absolutely  unruffled  by  anything  what- 
ever that  might  happen  to  him — perfectly  impervious 
to  any  kind  of  attack  upon  his  dignified  serenity. 

The  getting  rid  of  ignorance  of  course  implies 
the  acquisition  of  perfect  knowledge — practical  om- 
niscience as  regards  our  planetary  chain.  When  all 
the  fetters  are  finally  cast  off  the  advancing  ego 
reaches  the  fifth  stage — the  stage  of  full  adeptship-- 
and  becomes 

V.  Asekha,  "the  one  who  has  no  more  to  learn/' 
again  as  regards  our  planetary  chain.  It  is  quite 
impossible  for  us  to  realize  at  our  present  level  what 
this  attainment  means.  All  the  splendor  of  the 
nirvanic  plane  lies  open  before  the  waking  eyes  of  the 
adept,  while  when  he  chooses  to  leave  his  body  he 
has  the  power  to  enter  upon  something  higher  still — 
a  plane  which  to  us  is  the  merest  name.  As  Pro- 
fessor Rhys  Davids  explains,  "He  is  now  free  from 
all  sin;  he  sees  and  values  all  things  in  this  life  at 
their  true  value ;  all  evil  being  rooted  from  his  mind, 
he  experiences  only  righteous  desires  for  himself, 
and  tender  pity  and  regard  and  exalted  love  for 
others." 

To  show  how  little  he  has  lost  the  sentiment  of 
love,  we  read  in  the  Metta  Sutta  of  the  state  of  mind 


128 

of  one  who  stands  at  this  level:  "As  a  mother 
loves,  who  even  at  the  risk  of  her  own  life  protects 
her  only  son,  such  love  let  there  be  toward  all  beings. 
Let  goodwill  without  measure  prevail  in  the  whole 
world,  above,  below,  around,  unstinted,  unmixed 
with  any  feeling  of  differing  or  opposing  interests. 
When  a  man  remains  steadfastly  in  this  state  of 
mind  all  the  while,  whether  he  be  standing  or  walk- 
ing, sitting  or  lying  down,  then  is  come  to  pass  the 
saying  which  is  written,  'Even  in  this  life  has  holi- 
ness been  found/  " 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
What  Lies  Beyond. 

Beyond  this  period  it  is  obvious  that  we  can  know 
nothing  of  the  new  qualifications  required  for  the 
still  higher  levels  which  yet  lie  before  the  perfect 
man.  It  is  abundantly  clear,  however,  that  when  a 
man  has  become  Asekha  he  has  exhausted  all  the 
possibilities  of  moral  development,  so  that  further 
advancement  for  him  can  only  mean  still  wider 
knowledge  and  still  more  wonderful  spiritual  powers. 
We  are  told  that  when  man  has  thus  attained  his 
spiritual  majority,  whether  in  the  slow  course  of  ev- 
olution or  by  the  shorter  path  of  self -development, 
he  assumes  the  fullest  control  of  his  own  destinies, 
and  makes  choice  of  his  future  line  of  evolution 
among  seven  possible  paths  which  he  sees  opening 
before  him. 

Naturally  at  our  present  level  we  cannot  expect 
to  understand  much  about  these,  and  the  faint  out- 
line of  some  of  them  which  is  all  that  can  be  sketched 
in  for  us  conveys  very  little  to  the  mind,  except  that 
most  of  them  take  the  adept  altogether  away  from 

129 


130 

our  earth-chain,  which  no  longer  affords  sufficient 
scope  for  his  evolution. 

One  path  is  that  of  those  who,  as  the  technical 
phrase  goes,  "accept  Nirvana."  Through  what  in- 
calculable aeons  they  remain  in  that  sublime  condi- 
tion, for  what  work  they  are  preparing  themselves, 
what  will  be  their  future  line  of  evolution,  are  ques- 
tions upon  which  we  know  nothing;  and  indeed  if 
information  upon  such  points  could  be  given  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  it  would  prove  quite  incom- 
prehensible to  us  at  our  present  stage. 

But  this  much  at  least  we  may  grasp — that  the 

blessed  state  of  Nirvana  is  not,  as  some  have  igno- 
rantly  supposed,  a  condition  of  blank  nothingness, 
but  on  the  contrary  of  far  more  intense  and  benefi- 
cent activity;  and  that  ever  as  man  rises  higher  in 
the  scale  of  nature  his  possibilities  become  greater, 
his  work  for  others  ever  grander  and  more  far- 
reaching,  and  that  infinite  wisdom  and  infinite  power 
mean  for  him  only  infinite  capacity  for  service,  be- 
cause they  are  directed  by  infinite  love. 

Another  class  chooses  a  spiritual  evolution  not 
quite  so  far  removed  from  humanity,  foi  though  not 
directly  connected  with  the  next  chain  of  our  system 
it  extends  through  two  long  periods  corresponding  to 
its  first  and  second  rounds,  at  the  end  of  which  time 


i3i 

they  also  appear  to  "accept  Nirvana/'  but  at  a  higher 
stage  than  those  previously  mentioned. 

Others  join  the  deva  evolution,  whose  progress 
lies  along  a  grand  chain  consisting  of  seven  chains 
like  ours,  each  of  which  to  them  is  as  one  world. 
This  line  of  evolution  is  spoken  of  as  the  most  grad- 
ual and  therefore  the  least  arduous  of  the  seven 
courses ;  but  though  it  is  sometimes  referred  to  in  the 
books  as  "yielding  to  the  temptation  to  become  a 
god,"  it  is  only  in  comparison  with  the  sublime  height 
of  renunciation  of  the  Nirmanakaya  that  it  can  be 
spoken  of  in  this  half-disparaging  manner,  for  the 
3.dept  who  chooses  this  course  has  indeed  a  glorious 
career  before  him,  and  though  the  path  which  he 
selects  is  not  the  shortest,  it  is  nevertheless  a  very 
noble  one. 

Yet  another  group  are  the  Nirmanakayas — those 
who,  declining  all  these  easier  methods,  choose  the 
shortest  but  steepest  path  to  the  heights  which  still 
lie  before  them.  They  form  what  is  poetically 
termed  the  "guardian  wall,"  and,  as  The  Voice  of 
the  Silence  tells  us,  "protect  the  world  from  further 
and  far  greater  misery  and  sorrow,"  not  indeed  by 
warding  off  from  it  external  evil  influences,  but  by 
devoting  all  their  strength  to  the  work  of  pouring 
down  upon  it  a  flood  of  spiritual  force  and  assist- 


132 

ance,  without  which  it  would  assuredly  be  in  far 
more  hopeless  case  than  now. 

Yet  again  there  are  those  who  remain  even  more 
directly  in  association  with  humanity,  and  continue 
to  incarnate  among  it,  choosing  the  path  which  leads 
through  the  four  stages  of  what  we  have  called 
above  the  official  period;  and  among  these  are  the 
Masters  of  Wisdom — those  from  whom  we  who 
study  Theosophy  have  learnt  such  fragments  as  we 
know  of  the  mighty  harmony  of  evolving  Nature. 
But  it  would  seem  that  only  a  certain  comparatively 
small  number  adopt  this  course — probably  only  so 
many  as  are  necessary  for  the  carrying  on  of  this 
physical  side  of  the  work. 

In  hearing  of  these  different  possibilities,  people 
sometimes  exclaim  rashly  that  there  could  of  course 
be  no  thought  in  a  Master's  mind  of  choosing  any 
but  that  course  which  most  helps  humanity — a  re- 
mark which  greater  knowledge  would  have  pre- 
vented them  from  making.  We  should  never  for- 
get that  there  are  other  evolutions  in  the  solar  system 
besides  our  own,  and  no  doubt  it  is  necessary  for 
the  carrying  out  of  the  vast  plan  of  the  Logos  that 
there  should  be  adepts  working  on  all  the  seven  lines 
to  which  we  have  referred.  Surely  the  choice  of  the 
Master  would  be  to  go  wherever  his  work  was  most 
needed — to  place  his  services  with  absolute  selfless- 


133 

ness  at  the  disposal  of  the  Powers  in  charge  of  this 
part  of  the  great  scheme  of  evolution. 


This  then  is  the  path  which  lies  before  us,  the 
path  which  each  one  of  us  should  be  beginning  to 
tread.  Stupendous  though  its  heights  appear  we 
should  remember  that  they  are  attained  but  gradually 
and  step  by  step,  and  that  those  who  now  stand  near 
the  summit  once  toiled  in  the  mire  of  the  valleys, 
even  as  we  are  doing.  Although  this  path  may  at 
first  seem  hard  and  toilsome,  yet  ever  as  we  rise  our 
footing  becomes  finder  and  our  outlook  wider,  and 
thus  we  find  ourselves  better  able  to  help  those  who 
are  climbing  beside  us. 

Because  it  is  at  first  thus  hard  and  toilsome  to  the 
lower  self,  it  has  sometimes  been  called  by  the  very 
misleading  title  of  "the  path  of  woe ;"  but,  as  Mrs. 
Besant  has  beautifully  written,  "through  all  such 
suffering  there  is  a  deep  and  abiding  joy,  for  the 
suffering  is  of  the  lower  nature,  and  the  joy  of  the 
higher.  When  the  last  shred  of  the  personality  is 
gone  all  that  can  thus  suffer  has  passed  away,  and 
in  the  perfected  Adept  there  is  unruffled  peace  and 
everlasting  joy.  He  sees  the  end  toward  which 
all  is  working,  and  rejoices  in  that  end,  knowing 
that  earth's  sorrow  is  but  a  passing  phase  in  human 
evolution. 


134 

"That  of  which  little  has  been  said  is  the  pro- 
found content  which  comes  from  being  on  the  path, 
from  realizing  the  goal  and  the  way  to  it,  from 
knowing  that  the  power  to  be  useful  is  increasing, 
and  that  the  lower  nature  is  being  gradually  extir- 
pated. And  little  has  been  said  of  the  rays  of  joy 
which  fall  upon  the  path  from  loftier  levels,  the 
dazzling  glimpses  of  the  glory  to  be  revealed,  the 
serenity  which  the  storms  of  earth  cannot  ruffle. 
To  any  one  who  has  entered  on  the  path  all  other 
ways  have  lost  their  charm,  and  its  sorrows  have  a 
lieeper  bliss  than  the  best  joys  of  the  lower  world." 
(Vahan,  vol.  v.,  No.  12.) 

Let  no  man  therefore  despair  because  he  thinks 
the  task  too  great  for  him;  what  man  has  done 
man  can  do,  and  just  in  proportion  as  we  extend  our 
aid  to  those  wjiom  we  can  help,  so  will  those  who 
have  already  attained  be  able  in  their  turn  to  helg 
us.  So  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  we  who  are 
treading  the  steps  of  the  path  are  bound  together 
by  one  long  chain  of  mutual  service,  and  none  need 
feel  neglected  or  alone,  for  though  sometimes  the 
lower  flights  of  the  great  staircase  may  be  wreathed 
in  mist,  we  know  that  it  leads  up  to  happier  regions 
and  purer  air,  where  the  light  is  always  shining. 


INDEX. 


Adept 26,  95,  109,  127,  129,  133 

Adeptship 109,  115,   127 

Anagfimi 124 

Ananda  and  the  Buddha 125 

Angels  and  Gods,  Hierarchies  of 7,  8 

Angel  Story 42 

Anuloma    114 

Arahat,  consciousness  of 126 

Aruparaga    126 

Asekha    127,  129 

Astral    body 36,  37 

of    children    69 

after    death     81,  82 

active    consciousness    in 37,  67 

physical   elements,   no  obstacle   to .99,  100 

Astral  world,  power  of  thought  in 99 

Athanasian  Creed   120 

Avijja    126 

Awakening  pupils  on  the  astral  plane,  tests  for 99-100 

Bhavagga    119 

Black  magicians    94 

Bodies,  effect^of  coarse  ones,  after  death 81 

Buddha  and  Ananda 125 

Buddhas,  some  in  early  races,  from  deva  evolution 28 

Calmness,  a  requirement  on  the  Path 101 

Children,  useful  as  helpers 69,  70 

Consciousness,  apart  from  physical  body 29,  33-37,  124 

active  astral 37,  67,  68 

of  the  Arahat 126 

buddhic 121,  124,  126 

Cyril,  Angel   Story    42-48 

Fire    Story    50-55 

Two  Brothers 63-71 

materialized  form 56,  58,  59,  60,  71 

Dead  entity,  not  realizing  his  death 87 

Devas,  kinds  of  help  given  by,  between  incarnations 26,  27 

help  on  the  mental  plane 27 

supplied  Buddhas  in  early  races 28 

evolution  of 131 

Discipleship 109,  116,  118 

Dreams,  impressed  on  living 85 

Earthbound  entities 83,  87 

Story  of  a  father 84 

Ego 74,82,  125 

13$ 


136 


Eternal  punishment,  belief  in,  after  death 79 

Evil,  counteracting  effects  of  black  magicians 94 

Evolution,  accelerated  in  lower  kingdoms 39 

deva 131 

current  of,  too  strong  to  resist 83,  103 

Faith,  true  meaning  of   122 

Fifth  Round,  critical  period  of 109,  119 

Gotrabhu    114,  119 

Guardian  Wall    95,  131 

Hell,  effect  of  belief  in,  after  death   78 

Holiness,  four  paths  of   109 

Immortality  of  the  Soul 6,  7,  87 

Initiation   109,  114,  116,  119 

Invisible  Helpers,  classes  of 25,  28 

pupils  of  the  Masters 29 

danger  of  repercussion 58,  60,  61 

work  with  the  dead ) 73,  83,  89 

work  hindered  by  fear 74,  78,  80 

methods  of   impressing   the   living 

14,  40,  73,  75,  85,  86,  92,  93,  94 

spiritual  instruction,  given  by   89,  93,  94 

qualifications  necessary  for  becoming 97 

Jesus  and  S.  John   125 

Kamaloka,  factors  deciding  length  of  stay  in 81,  83 

entity  in,  not  realizing  death 87 

Kamaraga 124 

Knowledge,  kind  required  on  the  Path , . . .     100,  102 

Karma,  interference  with  another's,  impossible 30,  80 

illustrated  by  Angel  Story 48 

how  carried  out  by  Masters 21 

determines  possibilities  of  becoming  helpers 70 

inevitable   catastrophes    73 

ties  of  karma,  in  astral  work 48,  55 

after  death    81 

of  the  Invisible  Helpers 93,  98 

Karmic    obligations    98 

Love 103,  125,  128 

Maggo 118 

Mano 126 

Alanus,  some  from  deva  evolution 28 

Manodvaravajjana   Ill 

Materialists,   after  death    87 

Materialization,  three  kinds  of  57 

production  of,  at  stances * .  59,  60 

matter  for,  where  drawn  from   59 

economy  in  using  force  for 58 

exceptional  cases  of 61,  62,  65,  67,  71 

knowledge  necessary  for 71 

In  cabin  of  sinking  ship  .  e 76 

In  railway  carriage    < 23 

Materialized  body  not  injured  by  fire  or  water 61,  77 

Masters  training  Helpers 28,  60,  95,  97, 102, 106, 121, 125,  132 

guarding  an  advancing  soul 21 

Lords  of  Compassion   64 

felt  as  a  Presence   , , . , 66 


137 

restrictions  placed  upon  Helpers  by 88 

confidence  in 114 

and  pupils,  love  between 125 

Medium,  possibilities  of  repercussion 59,  60 

occasional  good  work  done'  by   ; .     86 

dangers  of   communication   through    87,  90 

Memory,  waking,  of  night's  experience 37 

waking,  caused  by  great  shock 67,  68 

of  teachings  received  after  death I     90 

Mental  plane,  work  upon   Ill 

Mind,  effect  of  attitude  of,  after  death 81,  82,  87,  89 

how  easily  influenced 92 

helps  in  problems  of  study 93 

Mother  love,  value  of   14,  32,  128 

Mumukshatva 114 

Nature  spirits,  help  to  man,  rare 31 

Nirmanakayas 95,  131 

Nirvana   118,  126,  127,  130 

Parikamma 112 

Path,  The 94,  97,  106,  107,  113 

four  means  of  reaching    108 

three  divisions  of   109 

of  holiness,  four  stages  of 109 

probationary    110,  116 

official  period  of 109,  132 

Patigha 124 

Personality 123,  125,  133 

Phala   118 

Prayer,  answer  to 11,  12,  93 

Proofs,  phenomenal,  forbidden 88 

Psychic  faculties 123 

Purgatory,  teaching  of,  helpful,  after  death 79 

Qualifications  for  becoming  Invisible  Helpers 97-106 

Repercussion,  when  possible 56,  58,  59,  60 

Rounds,   critical  period  of  Fifth 109,  119 

Seventh 109 

Ruparaga 126 

Saddha 114 

Sakadagamt 123 

Sakkayaditthi 120 

Salvation,'  origin  of  Christian  idea   120 

Samadhana 114 

Samo  113 

Samyojana 118,  122 

Seances 57,  59,  60,  86,  90 

Self-control,  qualification  required    98 

Seventh  Round 109 

Shatsampatti   113 

Silabbataparamasa    120 

Singlemindedness,  qualification  required 97 

Sotapattl  or  Sohan   119,  121 

Stories  of  Invisible  Helpers,  saved  from  fire 9,  10,  11,  48 

saved  from  falling  into  a  well 14 

saved  from  drowning 12 

saved  from  being  injured  by  horses 15 

saved  from  being  lost  in  the  woods 16 


138 


saved  from  massacre  40 

help  given  In  cabin  of  sinking  ship 76 

help  given  an  earthbound  father 84 

help  given  materialistic  scientist    88 

help  given  in   catastrophes    72",  73 

help  given  drowning  man 75 

rescue  from  a  mob 20 

rescue  from  falling  over  a  cliff 43 

warnings  given  the  author   19 

warnings  to  captain  of  a  boat 72 

the  two   brothers    63 

protection  in  railway  carriage 23 

release  from  astral  world 90 

Suggestion,   power  of    92-93 

Teachings  given  by  Invisible  Helpers  after  death.  .82,  83,  89,  90,  91 

During  life    92,  93 

Tests  of  earth,  water,  air  and  fire 99 

Thought,  power  of,  on  astral  plane 99 

Titikkha    113 

Uddhachcha   126 

Upacharo   113 

Uparati 113 

Vairagya . .   113 

Vichikichchha    120,  122 

Viveka 112 

Warnings  given  by  Helpers 19,  72,  90,  94 

Will,  power  of,  over  matter 61 

man's,  never  dominated  by  Helpers 92 

cosmic,  not  to  be  overcome 83,  103 

free,  of  the  Asekha 129 


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